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Mali’s junta sets date for presidential elections. Will that stop ECOWAS sanction?

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The military junta in Mali has adopted an electoral calendar with a presidential election set for February 2024.

The transition plan was announced three days before a summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which is due to consider the tough sanctions imposed on the junta in January.

The spokesman to the government, Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, who is also Minister of Territorial Administration, on state television on Thursday said “our authorities are further paving the way for a return to constitutional order in Mali, the scene of two coups d’état led by the same group of colonels in August 2020 and May 2021.”

“The government finds this timetable (electoral and referendum) realistic, he added.

According to official documents sent to the media, the junta also set a date for referendum on the new constitution for March 2023.

The calendar also revealed that legislative elections are to be held between October and November 2023, and local elections in June 2023.

In June, Mali’s military junta led by Colonel Assimi Goita created a body charged with responsibility for writing a new Constitution. The government had through a decree read on state television said that Bamako will be returned to civil rule after twenty months.

Regional bloc, ECOWAS in reaction to the 24 months transition plan, says it regrets the decision of Colonel Goita to extend the duration of the transition.

Recall that earlier in the week the junta announced new electoral law which permits Colonel Goita and other military service men to contest for the projected 2024 elections.

The move puts Mali in the eye of observers again as it suggests Goita is getting ready to join the undemocratic train of previous African leaders like Jerry Rawlings in Ghana, Omar al-Bashir in Sudan, Gnassingbé Eyadéma in Togo, Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire who succeeded themselves in a military to civil transition.

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Kenya’s Ruto wants global support for Haiti

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Kenya’s President William Ruto wants the United Nations Security Council to officially support the mission to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti.

Kenya, an East African powerhouse, is active in Haiti, and recently announced it was ready to be part of a multinational force. It committed to deploy 1,000 police officers to the country and  “accepted to positively consider leading a Multi-National Force to Haiti.”

Ruto, during his address, insisted that the Caribbean country “deserves better from the world.” “Kenya is ready to play its part in full, and join with a coalition of other nations of goodwill – and there are many— as a great friend and true sibling of Haiti,” Ruto said while addressing world leaders.

Haiti begged for assistance last year to fight off vicious gangs that had largely taken over the city of Port-au-Prince.

According to diplomats, the council might vote on a U.S.-drafted resolution endorsing the deployment of international police as early as next week.

U.N. peacekeepers were deployed to Haiti in 2004 after a rebellion led to the ouster and exile of then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Peacekeeping troops left in 2017 and were replaced by U.N. police, which left in 2019.

Haiti has been without any elected representatives since January and countries across the world have been cautious about supporting the unelected administration of Prime Minister Ariel Henry who has argued that fair elections cannot be held with the current insecurity.

Violent crimes, including kidnappings for ransom, armed robberies, and carjacking are prevalent in the country.

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Sudan: One country, two UNGA addresses, as armed factions stake claim

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The ongoing civil war in Sudan played out on the global scene at the United Nations General Assembly as heads of rival military factions gave competing addresses at the world meeting on Thursday.

Clashes between the army under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of Sudan’s transitional government’s Sovereign Council, and army troops loyal to General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the council’s deputy leader who controls the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), have led to the destruction of facilities.

The conflict, which broke out in Khartoum in mid-April and extended to other regions of the country, including the western area of Darfur, displacing more than 5 million people and posing a threat to the region’s stability, was blamed on both sides.

Army chief, al-Burhan urged the international community to label the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as a terrorist organisation and to take action against its financiers outside of Sudan’s borders while speaking from the stage at UN headquarters in New York.

On the other hand, RSF leader, Dagalo, known as Hemedti, in a rare video recording from an undisclosed location, said that his forces were fully prepared for a ceasefire and comprehensive political talks to end the conflict. Hemedti has primarily communicated recently through audio messages, and his whereabouts have been a subject of conjecture.

“Today we renew our commitment to the peaceful process to put a halt to this war,” Hemedti said. “The RSF are fully prepared for a ceasefire throughout Sudan to allow the passage of humanitarian aid … and to start serious and comprehensive political talks.”

Repeated declarations of a ceasefire by both the army and the RSF, as well as claims that they are looking for a resolution to the war have not been able to halt the carnage and the worsening of the humanitarian crisis in Sudan.

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