| ECOWAS summit suspends Mali in response to coup |
| Last Updated(Beijing Time):2012-03-28 08:37 |
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The 15-member West African bloc ECOWAS on Tuesday decided to suspend the membership of Mali to press the junta to return to the constitutional order, according to regional officials.
The decision was made at an extraordinary summit held in Abidjan, the economic capital of Cote d'Ivoire, whose President Alassane Ouattara chairs ECOWAS.
The sanction followed the suspension announced by the African Union on Friday, which reiterated zero tolerance for any unconstitutional change of government and its total rejection of any seizure of power by force.
A group of soldiers calling themselves the National Committee for Redressement of Democracy and Restoration of the State (CNRDR) on Thursday toppled elected President Amadou Toumani Toure, accusing him of poorly handling the Tuareg rebels in northern Mali.
ECOWAS has been scrambling with coups and coup attempts in West Africa in recent years, contributing to an end to the junta in Guinea and Niger. |
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