Sanctions-hit Mali facing isolation as neighbours cancel flights

Airlines from neighbouring countries and former colonial ruler France cancelled flights to Mali on Monday, helping isolate a military junta under regional sanctions for trying to extend its hold on power. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), on Sunday agreed a raft of restrictions against Mali, including the suspension of financial transactions, over the interim authorities' failure to hold democratic elections next month as agreed after a 2020 military coup. Neighbours also said they would close road and air borders. Ivory Coast's national carrier Air Cote d'Ivoire halted flights to the Malian capital Bamako on Monday. Flights from Senegal were also disrupted, according to a Reuters reporter trying to enter Mali. Air France had also cancelled flights, an airline spokesperson said, because of security risks, without providing further detail. The head of Mali's airports, Lassina Togola, said that Air France flights on Monday were cancelled but not suspended long term. Assimi Goita, Mali's current leader and one of several colonels who overthrew President Boubacar Ibrahim Keita in August 2020, called for calm in a statement on Monday, adding that Mali had the means to withstand the latest sanctions.Goita, who staged a second coup in May 2021 when he pushed aside the interim president to take the job for himself, said that his government remains open to further negotiations with the regional bloc. This is the toughest stance ECOWAS has taken on Mali since it implemented similar measures in the immediate aftermath of President Boubacar Ibrahim Keita's ouster in August 2020.<br/>