West African leaders call on Mali junta to free president West African leaders are escalating pressure on Mali's ruling junta and calling on them to allow the president to return to power days after he resigned under pressure from mutinous soldiersBAMAKO, Mali -- West African leaders escalated pressure on Mali’s ruling junta late Thursday, calling on them to allow President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's return to power as the mutinous soldiers who overthrew him insisted his midnight resignation had been his own decision. The bloc already had suspended Mali's membership, closed its borders with the country and promised other financial sanctions against the junta leaders. “Mali has not only descended into political chaos, but also socioeconomic and security disaster with potential tragic consequences to Mali and the sub-region,” Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said. France, which maintains strong economic and political ties to Mali, later led the intervention to force them from power. Col. Assimi Goita, the country's new strongman, had been head of a special military unit based in central Mali.

Source: ABC News August 20, 2020 09:57 UTC