BAMAKO 23 Aug (ANA) - A delegation from the West African regional bloc Ecowas has visited Mali days after a coup.

 

The team, led by Nigeria's former President Goodluck Jonathan, held talks with the new military leaders, and also met ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta.

 

"We saw him, he's very fine," Mr Jonathan is quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.

 

He added that the negotiations with the military were going well and he was "very hopeful", AFP reports.

 

Ecowas has called repeatedly for Mr Keïta to be reinstated, but thousands of Malians took to the streets of the capital, Bamako, on Friday to show their support for the coup.

 

There have been months of opposition protests demanding that Mr Keïta resign, blaming him for economic decline, corruption and a failure to contain a jihadist insurgency.(ANA)

FA/ANA/23 August 2020-----