Malian authorities on Monday, formalized the adoption of a new two-year transition schedule from March 26, 2022.

According to government spokesperson Abdoulaye Maïga, the new timetable of twenty-four (24 months) will prepare the country for the organization of free and transparent elections.

After the coup of August 18, 2020, against the late President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, an 18-month political transition was implemented on September 15, 2020, as part of the transition charter. The transition was to end on February 27, 2022 with the holding of presidential and legislative elections.

But the authorities of the transition justified the postponement of the general elections citing the growing insecurity in the country. During last week’s extraordinary ECOWAS summit, the Community announced the maintenance of sanctions against Mali before announcing the holding of a new summit on July 3.

While it is not known how ECOWAS leaders will react to this new calendar the ECOWAS Chair, Nana Akufo-Addo, Senegal’s president Macky Sall and the ECOWAS mediator in the Malian file, Goodluck Jonathan, are expected in Bamako in the coming days. This visit aims to find a consensus on the duration of the transition, a bone of contention, between the ruling junta and the West African heads of state.