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Envoys Optimistic after Meeting with Mali Military Junta

Kassim Traoré

   BAMAKO, MALI - West African envoys led by former Nigerian President
   Goodluck Jonathan said they were optimistic after talks in Mali's
   capital city of Bamako with the military junta that forced President
   Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to resign and disband the government earlier
   this week.

   "The interviews are going well," Jonathan said Saturday night,
   according to Agence France-Presse.

   Members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
   delegation also met with the ousted president and the other government
   and military officials detained by the rebel soldiers.

   "We have seen President Keita, he is doing very well," Jonathan said,
   according to AFP.

   The ECOWAS envoys met for about 30 minutes with members of the National
   Committee for the Salvation of the People, including Col. Assimi Goita,
   the leader of the junta.

   A spokesperson for the military, Ismael Wague, agreed the talks "are
   going very well."

   The president of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, said
   the discussions would continue for a second day Sunday.

   The envoys' visit comes one day after thousands crowded into Mali's
   capital in a raucous show of support for the military junta.

   Demonstrators in Bamako also denounced ECOWAS for condemning the coup
   and for closing Mali's borders to neighbors in the regional bloc's 14
   other member nations.

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