Mali state television announced late Friday that the leader of Mali’s coup, Captain Amadou Sanogo, and the Economic Community of West African States have agreed to a plan under which the coup leaders will hand over power to the civilian government in exchange for the end of trade and diplomatic sanctions. The statement was read in French over ORTM, the state TV network. The parties agreed to set up a transition process leading to a presidential election, Sanogo said. A transitional prime minister will lead the transition “to manage the crisis in the north of Mali and to organize free, transparent and democratic elections in accordance with a road map,” he said.
The international community — including West African states, the African Union and the United States — had called for the immediate restoration of constitutional rule. The African Union and ECOWAS had also slapped the military junta with travel and economic restrictions, and had frozen its assets.
Sanctions targeted the supporters and relatives of the military junta and all those involved in contributing to the “destabilization” of Mali, the African Union said. Under the sanctions, five neighboring nations were to close their borders to landlocked Mali except for humanitarian purposes and deny the nation access to their ports, freeze its accounts in regional banks, and suspend its participation in cultural and sporting events.
Full Article: Mali coup leader agrees to return power – CNN.com.