West Africa bloc willing to accept another 12 to 16 months transition in Mali

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) flag is pictured during an extraordinary summit of ECOWAS to hear reports from recent missions to Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea following military coups in those countries, in Accra, Ghana March 25, 2022. REUTERS/Francis Kokoroko

Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are willing to accept a transitional military government in Mali for another 12 to 16 months, the President of the ECOWAS Commission said after a summit on Friday.

The bloc also set a deadline of April 25 for Guinea's junta to provide an democratic transition time table and asked Burkina Faso's interim leaders to reduce a proposed transition of 36 months to a "more acceptable timeline", Jean Claude Kassi Brou told a news conference in Accra.

(Reporting by Cooper Inveen and Christian Akorlie; Writing by Sofia Christensen; Editing by Bate Felix)