The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said on Tuesday it had decided to suspend all financial flows between its members and Mali after mutinying soldiers detained President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
ECOWAS in a statement on Tuesday also closed borders of its member states’ with the country.
The statement read in part: “Also all financial flows between its fifteen members and Mali will be suspended.
“Mali is also suspended from its decision-making bodies.
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“It called on the ECOWAS commission to impose sanctions on the “putschists and their partners and collaborators.”
Rebel soldiers arrested Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and Prime Minister Boubou Cisse on Tuesday afternoon following weeks of political tension in the country.
The dramatic move followed the seizure of an army base near the capital Bamako that morning.
Mali has been in the grip of a deep political impasse since June, with President Keita facing increasingly strident demands for his resignation.
Keita eventually gave in and resigned as Mali’s president. He also dissolved his cabinet.
