Cape Town — ECOWAS representative Hamidou Boly was on October 25, 2021 named persona non grata and given 72 hours to leave Mali.

In a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry, Boly is accused of engaging with civil society organisations, political groups and the media, whose actions it said, is hostile to the transition and not in line with the mission of the Junta, which calls itself  the National Committee for the Salvation of the People (CNSP).

The move comes a day after a UN Security Council delegation left the country after a fact-finding mission.

Mali was plunged into its current crisis in August, 2020, after soldiers led by Colonel Assimi Goita, overthrew the government of former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

Since then, Mali has been under ECOWAS sanction, with the bloc insisting that the transitional government hold elections and transfer power within the 18-month deadline that was initially issued.

The UN has thrown its weight behind ECOWAS which has slapped sanctions on Mali over the recent coup and is demanding that the Junta organises elections and hand power to civilian rule by February 2022, writes Kemo Cham for The East African.