ECOWAS COMMISSION DECLARATION FOLLOWING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF NORTHERN MALI BY THE MNLA

The ECOWAS Commission has just learnt from the international media today 6th April 2012, of the so-called Declaration of Independence by the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) for the North of Mali. The ECOWAS Commission denounces the declaration and considers it null and void, and of no effect. The Commission wishes to remind all the armed groups in the North of Mali that Mali is one and indivisible entity, and ECOWAS shall take all necessary measures, including the use of force, to ensure the territorial integrity of the country. ECOWAS wishes to reaffirm its commitment to the unity and territorial integrity of Mali. In this regard, it wishes to put all on guard against any temptation to proclaim any part of Mali as a sovereign state, as it will never recognize any such state. Done at Abuja this 6th day of April, 2012 H. E. Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo President of the Commission