West African leaders on Saturday postponed taking decisions on Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, whose military juntas have failed to provide acceptable timelines to return their respective countries to constitutional rule.
Following their orders last March to the countries on the timelines, the leaders were expected to tighten sanctions on Mali and impose the first sanctions on Guinea and Burkina Faso.
However, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, announced at a press conference that no decision was taken.
Rather, the leaders agreed to postpone such a decision to 3 July, the next ordinary summit of ECOWAS.
The one-day summit which was held behind closed doors to hear updates on the political situations in the three countries, attracted nearly all the leaders.
The coup leaders of the three countries have incurred the anger of the ECOWAS leaders, who early this year imposed stiff economic and other sanctions on Mali and have indicated that Guinea and Burkina Faso would suffer the same fate should they not produce those timetables.
Ghana’s President and current chairman of ECOWAS, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, said in brief opening remarks that the summit was to assess and examine the situations in the three countries “in light of recent developments in the regional and global context which affect the countries”.
He said the objective of the heads of state was to find ways to help them return to constitutional order.
“This would allow them to deal better with the security and humanitarian challenges they are facing,” Akufo-Addo said.