Joint ECOWAS, AU and UN mission in Mali to meet coup leaders

The commission president of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, who was leading a joint mission of ECOWAS, African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN), on Saturday held talks in Bamako with the president of the National Committee for the Redressement of Democracy and Restoration of the State (CNRDRE), Captain Amadou Sanogo. “I am heading a mission that was sent to Bamako by the Cote d’Ivoire president who is also the current ECOWAS president Alassane Dramane Ouattara, who asked me to lead this mission to deliver a message to the Malian authorities,” Ouedraogo said after coming out of the meeting. “We have the support of the AU which is represented here and we also have the representative of the UN. It’s a joint mission,” he said. “We came to deliver the message of the ECOWAS president to the Malian authorities. We want to thank them for having welcomed us and for having listened to us,” he concluded. The meeting between the members of the said joint mission and the CNRDRE leaders was held behind closed doors. Meanwhile, on Saturday the CNRDRE president met successively with the Archbishop of Bamako Jean Zerbo, the French Ambassador to Mali, the president of the Convention for Democracy, Progress and Solidarity, Me Mamadou Gakou and the Speaker of Kidal regional assembly Homeny Belco Maiga. The Archbishop of Bamako hoped that “wisdom will prevail in Mali so that the country would quickly come out of the current situation which is extremely difficult.” The president of the Kidal regional assembly said that he discussed with the CNRDRE president about the prevailing situation in his region and what needed to be done to obtain immediate and future solutions. “We are very confident and we support president Sanogo and the committee. The president has committed himself that he will take all possible measures to secure the region and Kidal town. We have also promised to fight alongside our defence and security forces,” he said. All these meetings with different members of the society which were called by captain Sanogo, were held behind closed doors.