Accra, Nov 8 : The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has imposed sanctions on the Malian transitional authorities in response to their claim of inability to meet the transition deadline of February 2022 for holding elections. A communique, issued after the Third Extraordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS on the political situations in Mali and Guinea, said the sanctions include a travel ban and a freeze on financial assets, reports Xinhua news agency. "ECOWAS decides to impose sanctions with immediate effect against individuals and groups who have been identified, including the entire members of the transition authorities, their families, and the other transition institutions," added the communique read by Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, president of the ECOWAS Commission. The communique further instructed the ECOWAS Commission President "to consider and propose additional sanctions at its next ordinary session in December, should the situation persist". ECOWAS further urged the African Union, the European Union, the UN, and the bilateral and other multilateral partners to endorse and enforce these sanctions. "The ECOWAS authority condemns the expulsion of the ECOWAS Permanent Representative to Mali in this critical context and calls on the transitional authorities to uphold the spirit of dialogue and collaboration with the ECOWAS Commission to ensure a successful transition," it added. ECOWAS suspended Mali's membership following an impasse within the transitional government in May. After staging a coup in May, Colonel Assimi Goita was officially sworn in as the West African nation's Transitional President in June. Appointed Transitional Vice President after the mutiny in 2020 which forced the resignation of then President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Goita was proclaimed on May 28 as the Transitional President following the resignation of Bah N'Daw from the post. N'Daw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane were forced to resign from their positions after being detained for several days following the coup. The trigger for the coup was the military's anger over a cabinet reshuffle that saw two senior officers stripped of their positions. /IANS