PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Perpetrators of ''orchestrated'' Mali attack will be punished - ECOWAS
Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The West African regional bloc ECOWAS has described Monday's attack on Mali's Interim President Dioncounda Traore as ''orchestrated'' and vowed to identify and sanction the perpetrators of the ''reprehensible'' act.
In a statement issued from its headquarters in Nigeria's capital city of Abuja Tuesday, the 15-member organization condemned the aggression perpetrated by angry demonstrators in the capital city, Bamako.
It expressed surprise that a crowd of protesters could so easily breach the security of the Koulouba presidential palace and physically assault the Interim President, saying this confirms that the attack was orchestrated by those who are determined to undermine the country's political transition process.
Traore was briefly hospitalised after the attack, led by protesters who were apparently unhappy with the deal struck between ECOWAS mediators and the military junta to allow the Interim President to preside over Mali's 12-month transition to democratic rule.
The protesters beat security, including soldiers, and made their way into Traore's office, where they beat him thoroughly, necessitating a brief stay at the hospital.
The attack occurred shortly after the mediators left the country following the deal.
ECOWAS has consistently warned it would impose sanctions on those seen to be disrupting the transition.
The March military coup in Mali and the Tuareg-led rebellion in the northern part of the country have thrown the West African nation into a deep crisis.
The northern part of the country remains in the hands of the Tuareg rebels and their Islamist allies, who cashed in on the confusion triggered by the putsch to overrun several key northern cities.
-0- PANA SEG 22May2012
In a statement issued from its headquarters in Nigeria's capital city of Abuja Tuesday, the 15-member organization condemned the aggression perpetrated by angry demonstrators in the capital city, Bamako.
It expressed surprise that a crowd of protesters could so easily breach the security of the Koulouba presidential palace and physically assault the Interim President, saying this confirms that the attack was orchestrated by those who are determined to undermine the country's political transition process.
Traore was briefly hospitalised after the attack, led by protesters who were apparently unhappy with the deal struck between ECOWAS mediators and the military junta to allow the Interim President to preside over Mali's 12-month transition to democratic rule.
The protesters beat security, including soldiers, and made their way into Traore's office, where they beat him thoroughly, necessitating a brief stay at the hospital.
The attack occurred shortly after the mediators left the country following the deal.
ECOWAS has consistently warned it would impose sanctions on those seen to be disrupting the transition.
The March military coup in Mali and the Tuareg-led rebellion in the northern part of the country have thrown the West African nation into a deep crisis.
The northern part of the country remains in the hands of the Tuareg rebels and their Islamist allies, who cashed in on the confusion triggered by the putsch to overrun several key northern cities.
-0- PANA SEG 22May2012
