West African central bank freezes Mali assets

A regional body has ordered the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) to freeze Mali’s assets, one of several sanctions imposed on its military government. The move follows a decision by Malian leaders to delay fresh elections. 

The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), a 15-member bloc that includes Mali, accused Mali’s military government of reneging on a 2020 agreement to hold elections by February. Ecowas leaders, meeting in Accra on January 9, said the postponement “simply means that an illegitimate military transition government will take the Malian people hostage during the next five years”. The Malian junta said in December that it would delay elections for five years.  

Ecowas leaders also closed their borders with Mali, recalled their ambassadors, and halted most commercial and financial dealings with the country. The association ordered commercial banks to freeze Malian public sector assets.

The community has mobilised its standby force, a peacekeeping unit. Ecowas sponsored military intervention in The Gambia in January 2017, after Yahya Jammeh refused to recognise that he had lost presidential elections.

The Malian government in turn recalled its ambassadors from Ecowas states and closed its borders, according to media reports. The government spokesperson said “the government of Mali strongly condemns these illegal and illegitimate sanctions”, blaming them on “extra-regional powers with ulterior motives”.

The BCEAO is the common central bank of the eight-member West African Monetary Union (UEMOA), mostly comprised of former French colonies. Its currency, the CFA franc, is tied to the euro.

As the regional central bank, the BCEAO keeps “the accounts of the public treasuries of the member states” of the monetary union. It also maintains the pooled foreign exchange reserves of the eight states.

In a brief email to Central Banking, the UEMOA commission said that “the Union authorities are working to translate these [Ecowas] decisions into acts”.

Ballot box in the rear-view mirror

Mali’s current political crisis began in August 2020, when the military overthrew president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. The coup, the fourth successful one in Mali’s history, followed more than two months of protests that began after allegations that the government had rigged parliamentary elections. Demonstrators also targeted the Keita administration’s handling of the economy, teachers’ wages, corruption and a long-running insurgency.

Ecowas imposed sanctions after the coup, including freezing Mali’s central bank accounts. A March 2021 report by the International Monetary Fund said that the BCEAO “cut off the de facto authorities (military junta) from the Treasury single account at the regional central bank (BCEAO) and from central bank facilities”.

Mali’s military, led by Assimi Goïta, agreed to a civilian-military coalition government under a civilian president, Bah N’Daw, in September 2020. Goïta became Mali’s vice-president. The military also accepted elections after a transitional period, after which Ecowas lifted its first round of sanctions.

When N’Daw moved to replace two of Goïta’s allies in his cabinet in May 2021, the vice-president launched a second coup d’etat and assumed the presidency himself.

Malian authorities scheduled general elections for February 2022, but by last December a national conference was calling for a delay of up to five years. The military government then adopted this policy.

In August 2019, the IMF awarded Mali a $191.9 million, three-year loan package. The IMF also granted Mali a $200 million emergency loan to fight Covid-19 in April 2020.

Correction: An earlier version of this article said that the Malian military government had announced it would delay elections until 2025. The military government announced in December 2021 that it would delay elections for five years. We regret the error.