ECOWAS urges joint tackling of Mali crisis

By : Oludare Richards, Abuja

Date: 16 June 2021 4:46am WAT

Malian soldiers parade as they arrive by military vehicle at Independence Square in Bamako on August 18, 2020, after rebel troops seized Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and Prime Minister Boubou Cisse in a dramatic escalation of a months-long crisis. - Neighbouring states in West Africa, along with France, the European Union and the African Union, condemned the sudden mutiny and warned against any unconstitutional change of power in the fragile country. (Photo by STRINGER / AFP)

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission should be left alone to handle the Mali crisis, Chairman of its Parliament’s Standing Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), Edwin Melvin Snowe (Jnr), pleaded yesterday.

He said this would help the legislature to adequately comprehend the happenings in the landlocked West African nation and proffer a way out.

His words: “I would be the last person to want to sit in ECOWAS Parliament with someone who was hand-picked by a military junta to come and represent the good people of Mali. I am fundamentally opposed to that. Parliament would have to get more proactive in the resolution of the crisis to enable them have informed decisions to move forward.”