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The new deal with ECOWAS leaves several questions unanswered,including the timeline for new elections. But two things arecertain. One, the Malian army will continue to wield substantialinfluence over that country s politics; coup leader Capt. AmadouSanogo will retain the status of a former head of state, whichmeans that he will continue to have a role in any futurenegotiating process. Two, ECOWAS will continue to influence Mali spolitics as well, since the regional bloc sees Mali s instabilityand its Tuareg rebellion as a threat to all nations in the region. "I can tell you that a deal has been reached inprinciple," Captain Sanogo told state television late on Saturday, Reuters reported. "Of course we have a certain number of accompanyingmeasures to put in place and we will remain in [the capital] Bamako the time it takes to ensure that, after these discussions, theinstitutions of state are stabilized. Military option is difficult West African leaders may be breathing a sigh of relief, and withgood reason: Military intervention would not have been easy inMali. But from a viewpoint of democratic governance, there are reasonsfor concern with the deal. By failing to reprimand the coupleaders, and stepping back from sanctions, ECOWAS has cemented therole of Mali s military in the country s political system for theforeseeable future. And while ECOWAS may see this as a necessarystep in taking on an even greater regional threat the seeminglysuccessful Tuareg rebellion in northern Mali the regional groupmay be setting the stage for future coups, and future instabilityin Mali. Hamadoune Toure, Mali s government spokesman, was quoted by Voice of America as saying that Capt. Sanogo, the coup leader, will not have a sayin the transition process, but they [ECOWAS] said he will haveadvantages recognized to all former heads of state. They invitedhim to work as a team with the president and with the primeminister, for the supreme interests of Mali. And all actors arecalled on not to disrupt the transition process. It is easy to condemn peace deals that are less than perfect; it ismuch harder to hammer them out when you have few good options. In previous ECOWAS interventions in Liberia and Sierra Leone , West Africa s strongest military and economic power, Nigeria , had been a vocal advocate for strong military intervention, whilemany of ECOWAS s francophone members demurred. In Mali, ECOWASmilitary chiefs seem to have been more unanimous, agreeing inprinciple at a May 15 meeting in Nigeria to to send 1,500 peacekeepers forces to Mali. Those have not beensent yet; now they may go to see through the peace deal. At a meeting in Abidjan , ECOWAS leaders talked a strong game, demanding that the mutineersreturn to their barracks, and insisting that new elections be held within 12 months . But in the deal signed this weekend, Mali coup-leaders areguaranteed a future political role, and the timeline for electionsis left open. For all the talk about Africa s democratic renaissance, it appearsthat there is still room for Mao Zedong s famous observation that Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. I am an expert from rigidflex-pcb.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Prototype PCB Assembly , China HDI PCB Design, Rigid Flex PCB,and more.
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