Members of Mali's junta travelled to Nigeria on Tuesday for talks with government ministers about the country's future after the military coup, dpa reported. Nigeria's foreign affairs minister Olugbenga Ashiru received a three-man delegation representing the junta after president Goodluck Jonathan authorized the visit. The junta, which seized power in a March 22 coup, has been appealing to regional powers for assistance after West African grouping ECOWAS imposed tough economic and diplomatic sanctions on Monday. "The foreign minister has made it clear that Nigeria is opposed to military takeover and has no intentions of granting recognition to the junta in Bamako", Ogbole Odey, a spokesman for the Nigerian foreign ministry, told dpa. The ECOWAS sanctions have effectively closed Mali's borders to most trade. Bamako has been cut off from the regional central bank and the assets of the coup leaders have been frozen. Analysts say the sanctions will suffocate the junta and force them to cede power. Last week coup leader Captain Amadou Sanogo pledged to restore the country's constitution, but has not yet done so. Odey told dpa that he believes a return to constitutional order is on the cards. "From the meeting there is an indication that constitutional order will be speedily restored in Mali," he said.
