We Insist UN, EU, Others Support Imposition Of Sanctions In Mali, Guinea – VP Osinbajo

 

The Nigeria’s Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo has insisted the United Nations, European Union and others support the imposition of sanctions on Mali and Guinea.

Osinbajo spoke with newsmen at the ECOWAS Summit in Accra, Ghana, in which he represented President Muhammadu Buhari.

He noted that African countries have gone far beyond military coup as a means of changing political actors and that coups are unacceptable.

Osinbajo added that ECOWAS Heads of State and Government would continue to prevail on the military juntas in Guinea and Mali to return their countries to democratic rule.

According to the VP, “one of the important points that the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government make is that coups and coups de’tat generally are just completely unacceptable….and that we cannot continue to have a situation where they are tolerated for the simple reason that in Africa, West Africa in particular, we’ve gone way beyond military coups as an answer to the question of change in political actors.”

Osinbajo said, “there is a very strong feeling amongst the Heads of State that we must insist, that other international bodies: the UN, EU, and other regional groups must support the impositions of sanctions on individuals and groups that choose not to follow the democratic process of change of government and choose to go by way of coup de‘tat.”

Referring to the situations in Guinea and Mali, the Vice President said “it appears from all indications that much progress has been made in Guinea, although we are still concerned that there ought to be much more clarity on transition.

“But Mali is a much more difficult situation, there is much concern because very little progress had been made.”

President of Ghana and Chair of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, had earlier briefed the meeting on the outcome of a high-powered delegation led by himself to Guinea and Mali on the 17th of September and the 17th of October respectively, as part of the resolutions of the previous Summit held on the 16th of September this year.

At the end of the Extraordinary Summit, the ECOWAS communique stated that “the Authority endorsed the main recommendations contained in the memorandum on the political situation in the Republic of Guinea and the report on the political situation in the Republic of Mali.”