Mali

Police fired tear gas to disperse campaigners for civilian rule before substantive talks over Mali’s political future began in Bamako on Thursday, a sign of a deepening rift over who should lead the post-coup transitional government.

West African regional heads of state have told the military junta in Mali to name a transitional president and a prime minister by September 15, according to a statement read at the end of a summit in Niger’s capital.

[…] Although the putschists promised to organise elections and reinstate the constitutional order, no clear path for transition emerged from the discussions with the West African regional authority, ECOWAS. The coup risks further destabilising the Sahel and challenges the EU strategy in the region.

The Security Council, in a videoconference meeting on 31 August, announced its decision to renew sanctions in Mali for one year, unanimously adopting a resolution that also extends the work of the expert panel established to focus on the matter.

Mali's West African neighbours have agreed the country's transitional government must be lead by civilian and last no longer than 12 months, Nigeria's presidency said on Friday.

Former Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita is back home in the capital of Bamako Friday, a day after being released from a military base in Kita. … The NCSP [National Committee for the Salvation of the People] said it is seeking to set up a council to oversee the general elections as soon as possible in order to appoint a transitional president.

Coup leaders in Mali have released ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita from detention, a junta official said on Thursday. … Keita’s release is one of the demands of Mali’s international partners, including France and West Africa’s regional bloc, which sent a delegation to Bamako over the weekend to negotiate with coup leaders.

[…] This paper analyses the Sahel Alliance and the way in which it has developed since it was founded, paying particular attention to how its approach and practices have evolved.

The European Union has suspended training in Mali after the military coup this month that removed President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita from power, officials said on Wednesday, while Germany acknowledged that some perpetrators had been trained in Europe. … However, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell insisted that the suspension of the EU's training missions was temporary.

Mali remains without a blueprint forward after three days of talks between military coup leaders and West African mediators yielded no decision on the make-up of a transitional government.