Buhari Urges Malians To Accept Jonathan’s Peace Proposals

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to the people of Mali to accept the proposals of a team of mediators led by former President Goodluck Jonathan aimed at ending the political crisis in that country.

Jonathan, Buhari’s predecessor, was the Special Envoy of the Economic Community of West African States on the Malian crisis.

The Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS held an extraordinary virtual summit on
Monday where they endorsed Jonathan’s recommendations, including the establishment of a Government of National Unity to incorporate all the warring factions.

Speaking during the meeting, Buhari urged the political leaders in Mali to embrace the peace proposals in order to prevent the crisis from escalating.

Recognising the role of Jonathan, he stated, “I wish to place on record, my commendations for the various layers of efforts, and especially, of former President Goodluck Jonathan, whose painstaking engagements as Special Envoy and Mediator, provided clear road-map to contain the crisis in Mali.”

To the Malians, Buhari said, “I appeal therefore, to all the Malian stakeholders to consider the proposals for the reform of the Constitutional Court and the established modalities for resolving the contentious 31 seats issue at the National Assembly.

“Equally significant, is the need to address governance challenges, whose manifestations are at the core of restiveness across the country. In order to address these matters holistically, it is important that all Malians embrace the call for a Government of National Unity where inclusivity of participation in the affairs of governing their country will be a responsibility of each and every Malian actor.

“I wish to reiterate the imperative of compromise and concessions for a peaceful resolution of the current crisis which would be acceptable to all parties.’’

He also praised the the Chairperson of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government and President of Niger, Mahamadou Isso-Ufou, for convening the session to discuss the “socio-economic, political and security developments in Mali, especially, following the outcome of the parliamentary elections in the country, last March, 2020.”

He spoke more, “Excellencies, dear colleagues and brothers, may I recall that last March, Parliamentary elections took place in Mali. Regrettably, results of 31 seats arising from those elections, provoked the spate of unrest and protests that became violent with tragic consequences in July 2020.

“We are still living and contending with the negative fallout from those incidents. Our organisation, the ECOWAS, using its instrumentality of peaceful resolutions of crisis and in the context of our Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, embarked upon a series of efforts to address this crisis, at the levels of Ministerial Committee, Special Envoy and Mediator and to a select-group of Heads of State and Government and now, the Authority of Heads of State and Government, at this Extraordinary Session, today.”

Buhari commended development partners, especially the European Union, France, African Union and the United Nations , urging them to continue to support efforts for national-regional security and stability of West Africa.

Presidential spokesman, Mr Femi Adesina, said after the meeting that “among the conclusions by the Heads of State and Government are: formation of a Government of National Unity to comprise 50% nominees by government of the day, headed by President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, 30% by the opposition, and 20% by civil society groups.

“It was also agreed that given the numerous challenges facing the country, some members of government will be nominated before the National Unity Government is formed. These are the ministers in charge of Defense, Justice, Foreign Affairs, National Security and Finance.

“The Malian President was equally mandated to ensure the stepping down of the 31 parliamentarians who emerged from the disputed polls, while a by-election will be held as speedily as possible.

“Also agreed was that steps should be taken to reconstitute the Constitutional Court in the country as soon as possible, while a commission of enquiry would determine and identify those responsible for the violence that led to deaths and casualties as well as public properties destroyed on July 10-12, 2020.

“Equally resolved was that the government would step up efforts to secure the release of opposition figure, Soumaila Cisse, kidnapped since March, among others.

“The ECOWAS Commission is to put in place a Monitoring Committee for the implementation of all the above measures.

“The Declaration, to be communicated to relevant organs of African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN), also agreed to support President Keita in restoring peace and order to Mali, stressing that no anti-constitutional change of government would be accepted anywhere in West Africa.”