Niamey

ECOWAS leaders who met in Niamey, Niger on Monday have given the military junta in Mali until Sept. 15 to name a transitional president and a prime minister, according to a statement read at the end of a summit on Monday.

The 15-nation bloc said the president and prime minister, who will lead the transitional government, should be civilians.

The meeting maintained the sanctions it imposed on Mali in the aftermath of the coup.

But it also welcomed steps taken by the junta in the past week to start talks with Mali’s political parties and civil society groups over the …