Ban urges Mali junta to implement deal

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for speedy implementation of a deal signed between Mali military junta and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The UN chief "calls on the junta to expeditiously implement the terms of the framework agreement, which provides for the transfer of power back to the constitutional authorities, as consistently called for by the Security Council and the international community as a whole," AFP quoted a UN spokesman as saying on Sunday. The West African accord demands Mali's military rulers quit and hand over power to legal officials, following a coup that toppled Mali's President Amadou Toumani Toure on March 22. "The secretary-general urges the junta to ensure the safety and security of all Malian officials, to immediately and unconditionally release all detainees and to refrain from any actions that might undermine the effective implementation of the provisions of the framework agreement," the spokesman said. Mali's junta agreed to give up power on Friday in return for an amnesty deal and a lifting of sanctions that the West African bloc has imposed on the country.According to the stipulations of the deal, a new post of interim prime minister would be established, who would supervise the transfer of power. The interim government would also deal with the deepening crisis in the north and organize "free, transparent and democratic elections." The coup leaders said they mounted the coup out of anger at the government's inability to contain the two-month-old Tuareg rebellion in north of the country.