West African leaders hit Mali junta with embargo

Leaders of the 15-state West African bloc ECOWAS have decided to impose diplomatic, trade and financial sanctions on Mali’s junta with immediate effect, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said after a regional summit on Monday.

Ouattara told reporters the leaders would apply the previously announced sanctions - which include a crippling closure of the land-locked country’s borders - to put pressure on leaders of last month’s coup to return power to civilians.

“All the diplomatic, economic, financial and other measures will be applied from today and will remain in place until constitutional order is re-established,” Ouattara said after the talks in the Senegalese capital Dakar.