ECOWAS Chairman President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Tuesday, said the sub-regional block has reaffirmed its position that a civilian leadership should be in charge of the transition in Mali.

He said that once the required leadership was put in place through the processes that the Military rulers had agreed on in Mali, the sanctions that had been placed on that country would be lifted.

Speaking to journalists after the consultative meeting convened by him to resolve the political crisis in the West African nation, President Akufo-Addo said though an agreement had not been reached, the military leadership agreed with the decisions taken at the meeting.

However, the military leadership said they would have to go back to consult with those who were responsible for decisions to get them buy into it.

"The view point of ECOWAS is that matters that have been put out should be dealt with in terms of days and not weeks so that we begin the process of normalising the situation in Mali," he said.

In that direction, President Akufo-Addo, who was undertaking his first major assignment after being made the regional bloc's chairman, said the mediator in the crisis, Nigeria's former leader Goodluck Jonathan, would return to Bamako next week to continue with talks with the military Junta.

"The situation in Mali calls for a quick resolution, we have to have a government in place that can begin the process of normalising things, and more than anything else organising the resistance to the Tuareg menace," he stated.

"The issue is now in the hands of the Malians."
The ECOWAS chairman expressed the hope that by the time the mediator returned to Mali, things would have been sorted out so that the sanctions could be be lifted.

ECOWAS imposed sanctions on Mali and asked its neighbouring states to close their land and air borders to the country after the military deposed the 75 year old Malian President Ibrahim Keita on August 18, 2020.

The Bloc also suspended all financial transactions between the 14 other member states. ECOWAS imposed sanctions on Mali following the deposition of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on August 18, 2020 by Malian military Forces following weeks of political tension in that country.

The bloc suspended financial transactions between Mali and its 14 other member countries, and also suspended the troubled nation from its internal decision-making bodies, and asked the military Junta to appoint a President and Prime Minister by September 15, 2020, or face further sanctions.
Tuesday's meeting, aimed at reiforcing its decisions in resolving the political crisis in the country, was attended by at least eight Presidents, Mali's political junta and other stakeholders.

Guinea's Alpha Conde, Togo' s Faure Gnassingbe, Nigerien leader, Mahamadou Issoufou, who is the immediate past ECOWAS Chair, Senegalese President Macky Sall, Burkinanabe Head of State Roch Marc Christian Kabore, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara and the Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo took part in the consultative meeting.

They have since left for their respective countries.