West African presidents to head to Mali to help solve crisis

FILE PHOTO: Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita at the G5 Sahel summit in Nouakchott, Mauritania June 30, 2020. Ludovic Marin /Pool via REUTERS/

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - A delegation of at least three West African leaders will head to Mali this week to try to end a political crisis that has sparked widespread protests, cost at least 11 lives and led to calls for President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to step down.

A regional mission of West Africa's ECOWAS bloc last week failed to appease an influential opposition group called M5-RFP that has denounced Keita's failure to contain a growing jihadist insurgency or address contested local election results.