BBC news

West Africa leaders call for 12-month transition in Mali Chi Chi Izundu BBC News Reuters Nigeria's former President, Goodluck Jonathan (l), led the Ecowas mission to Mali Mali’s West African neighbours have once again agreed that the country should immediately return to civilian rule. The decision comes after last week’s military coup overthrowing President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta. In a virtual summit held on Friday, the 15-nation regional group Ecowas called for the “troops to return to their barracks” and for an election to be held in 12 months. The West African heads of state said that the transition should be overseen by a civilian. But the military junta - known as the National Committee for the People’s Salvation - has talked about a transition lasting up to two years. The soldiers have released President Keïta, which was one of Ecowas' demands when envoys met with the military rebels earlier this week. But the regional bloc says that action alone is not enough. It had imposed sanctions on Mali after the coup, including closing borders, suspending its membership and disrupting trade. During Friday's summit, the heads of state said they would gradually lift those sanctions as the country returned to civilian rule. Read more: Mali's coup is cheered at home but upsets neighbours 8:15 28 Aug Large mosques in Egypt re-open for prayers BBC World Service EPA Large mosques in Egypt have held Friday prayers for the first time since they were suspended in March over the coronavirus outbreak. Worshippers followed precautionary measures including wearing face masks and social distancing. They also had to bring their own prayer mats to mosques which had been disinfected. Sermons were limited to a maximum of 10 minutes. There have been so far 98,000 coronavirus infections in Egypt and just over 5,300 deaths