A meeting designed to discuss the sanctions imposed on Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea will be held, the African Union Peace and Security Council has announced.
The date of the discussion, however, has not been specified.
The representatives of the African Union member states have come together in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to negotiate the accelerated creation of a free trade area from February 18-19.
Earlier, the three sanctioned countries urged the AU and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to review their membership suspension.
After a meeting between the Malian, Guinean, and Burkinabe Foreign Ministers in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on February 9, the top diplomats agreed to make joint efforts to lift the sanctions imposed by the AU and ECOWAS.
Although Bamako, Ouagadougou, and Conakry are not supposed to participate in the AU meeting, their heads of diplomacy have also arrived in Addis Ababa.
In a recent interview with Sputnik, Mali's Foreign Minister, Abdoulaye Diop, explained why the three countries had arrived in Addis Ababa despite being suspended from the AU and why their efforts to get rid of the sanctions are so important.
"For us, the lifting of the suspension measures also allows us to support the efforts that are underway in our countries. This is why we are here," Diop said, "We are here as part of a collective effort between Burkina, Mali, and Guinea to share the concerns of our people who want more solidarity with our countries that are facing insecurity and are making a lot of efforts, which also work for the return to constitutional order."
17 February 2023, 13:38 GMT
The participation of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea in the AU and ECOWAS was halted after their governments were overthrown in military coups in recent years.
In May 2021, then Vice President Assimi Goita backed by the Malian Armed Forces removed the temporary administration which, he said, violated transition rules. Following that, in 2022, presidential and parliamentary elections were announced. However, later that year, the elections were postponed, as the country experienced security issues.
Guinea saw a coup in September 2021, resulted from the people's dissatisfaction with President Alpha Conde. Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, with the help of the military came, to power and dismissed the government. ECOWAS said the military authorities of Guinea had pledged to hand power over to a civilian government in two years.
Burkina Faso's government changed in September 2022, when Captain Ibrahim Traore headed a coup and came to power. Having assumed the temporary presidency in the country, he promised Burkina Faso will have democratic elections in July 2024.