Deposed Guinean President Alpha Conde has been allowed to travel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for medical treatment.
Official sources in Conakry said the 83-year-old Conde, detained by the Col Mamady Doumbouya-led regime since his ouster in the 5 September 2021 coup could be away for a month.
ECOWAS, the regional bloc has been calling for his release and a six-month transition timetable in Guinea, which the junta has largely ignored.
The Conakry regime has not announced a Transition Commission or timeline for the restoration of constitutional rule.
Conde’s medical trip came a day after the death on Sunday of his deposed former Malian counterpart Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in his private Bamako residence.
Keita, 76, was toppled in the August 2020 coup led by Col Assimi Goita. He had visited the UAE at least twice for medical treatment before his death, for which no cause was given.
Mali and Guinea have been suspended from ECOWAS, which imposed targeted sanctions against both regimes’ officials.
But on January 9, the regional body slammed unprecedented harsh economic and border blockade on Mali.
The Goita regime responded by calling for nationwide protest, which was attended by thousands of Malians on Friday.
Prime Minister Choguel Maiga has described the ECOWAS sanctions as “illegal,” adding that the interim government would challenge the measures legally, but gave no further details.
Meanwhile, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara was quoted on Monday, saying during a visit to Gabon that the ECOWAS sanctions were imposed with the “greatest reluctance,” after the Goita regime announced a five-year delay to the transition programme.
He acknowledged that the “situation is difficult for the population in Mali and neighbouring countries,” including Senegal and his country Cote d’Ivoire.
Beyond the anti-sanction rallies, there are pockets of internal opposition to the military regime’s delay of the political transition in Mali.
Analysts within and outside Mali also believe that a five-year delay to the transition programme is unreasonable, particularly after the junta would appear to have done very little or nothing on the implementation.
But going by the massive protests, the sanctions would appear to have aggravated anti-French and ECOWAS sentiments in the country wracked by perennial insecurity from terrorist and jihadist insurrections.
Critics have also accused ECOWAS of being influenced by former colonial power France, which has stoutly opposed the Goita regime’s military pact with Russia.
Some 500 personnel of Russia’s private military group Wagner, are already in Mali under the defence Accord with Moscow after Paris and the U.S. announced the suspension of military support and cooperation with Mali.
Russia and China have vetoed a UN Security Council Resolution backed by France and European allies seeking support for the ECOWAS sanctions against Mali.
Mali shares borders with seven countries including five ECOWAS member States.
But the regime in Guinea, a suspended ECOWAS member State, has dissociated the country from the ECOWAS sanctions.
For their part, Algeria and Mauritania, the two non-ECOWAS Malian neighbours are calling for a peaceful resolution of the complicated Mali crisis.
Without a de-escalation of the crisis through structured and genuine negotiations, the ECOWAS sanctions could unleash avoidable humanitarian crisis, including displacements in Mali and across the ECOWAS/Sahel region.
Ejime is a Global Affairs Analyst and an Independent Consultant on Strategic Corporate Communications, Peace & Security and Elections
