Captain Sanogo said the Malian military had not been consulted by the regional decision making body.
The coup leaders handed power to an interim civilian government earlier this month.
According to Liberia’s Foreign Minister Augustine N’gafuan, ECOWAS is preparing to send 3,000 armed men to Mali and 600 to Guinea Bissau.
N’gafuan, who just returned from an ECOWAS summit in neighboring Ivory Coast, said the decision to send military troops to the two West African countries was the regional body’s way of finding solutions to the political and military crises in those countries.
“ECOWAS is not a toothless bull dog; it is in full preparation to intervene in the crisis affecting these two countries and is not prepared to accept any form of power seizure out of constitutional order,” Minister N’gafuan noted.
Briefing reporters over the weekend, Minister N’gafuan noted, “ECOWAS has identified the commanders of the troops that will be deployed in both countries and will be in the position to negotiate with military groups concerned with finding solutions to the political, security and humanitarian situations affecting the people there; but failure to adhere to ECOWAS’ demand of restoring constitutional order, it (ECOWAS) is also in full position to bite”.
Minister N’gafuan named Senegal and Nigeria among countries that would intervene in the political turmoil in the two West African countries. According to him, commanders for the troops in both countries are from Nigeria and Ivory Coast.
Quoting an ECOWAS communiqué from the summit on each of the two crisis-prone countries, N’gafuan said, “ECOWAS takes keen notes on commitment by the junta on April 1, 2012 to restore constitutional order, welcomes the signing of the Framework Agreement on the implementation of the Solemn Commitment on April 6, 2012, the establishment of the transitional organs under the Framework Agreement, particularly the nomination of the interim President, Prime Minister and the cabinet in Mali.”
Additionally, the Liberian foreign minister said ECOWAS has also decided to limit the transition in Mali to the period of twelve months, within which a presidential election shall be organized to choose a new president.
According to the Foreign Minister, ECOWAS also decided to extend the mandate of the transitional organs, most notably the interim President, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, by the same twelve-month period to ensure, within the limits of powers conferred on each under the constitution, the continuity of governance in that country.
On the basis of ECOWAS pressure on Mali to restore constitutional order, Minister N’gafuan told journalists on April 28 that those detained by the junta on April 17 had been released in fulfillment of its commitment.
ECOWAS warned the junta in Mali, he added, that any arbitrary and unilateral action on its part in the course of the transition shall be met with the imposition of targeted individual sanctions on the perpetrators.
Concerning the rebellion in northern Mali, he said ECOWAS strongly denounces the continued occupation of the regions of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu by rebels, and that ECOWAS is in full position to help the government of Mali to reestablish sovereignty over those territories.
He added that ECOWAS reaffirmed the offer to mediate a negotiated settlement of the crisis, which Burkina Faso President Blaise Campore has been designated to conduct.
Also on the issue of Guinea Bissau, ECOWAS demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Prime Minister Carlos Gomes, Jr., Interim President, Raimundo Pereira, and any other persons illegally detained by the junta in that country.
The ECOWAS Authority also urged all stakeholders to submit to the mediation efforts with a view of agreeing upon the modalities for a transition through the holding of elections within twelve months, taking note of the written commitment of April 16 by the military command to accept the restoration of constitutional order, and based on modalities to be worked out with the help of ECOWAS.
According to Minister N’gafuan, the ECOWAS Authority put the Military Command in Guinea Bissau on notice that if it fails to accede to all of the demands put forward within 72 hours from the day of the communiqué, targeted sanctions shall be imposed on individual members of the Military Command and their associates, as well as diplomatic, economic and financial sanctions on Guinea Bissau, and not excluding prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
