West African Leaders Suspend Mali From Regional Bloc Over Coup

ACCRA, GHANA - West African leaders suspended Mali from their regional bloc Sunday over what they said amounted to a coup last week, Ghana's foreign minister said after an emergency meeting to address the political crisis in Mali.

The 15-nation bloc, the Economic Community of West African States, "is worried about the security implications for West Africa because of the continued insecurity brought about by the political upheavals in that country," Ghana Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey said.   At the end of their summit, the heads of state of the ECOWAS member nations demanded that Malian authorities immediately release former transitional President Bah N'Daw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane, who are being kept under house arrest.   In their statement, the leaders condemned the arrests by Mali's military, which they said violated mediation steps agreed to last September, a month after a coup led by the same man who has now again taken power in Mali, Col. Assimi Goita.