West African mediators say the leaders of last week’s coup in Mali want to stay in power for a three-year transition period.

But the Ecowas team say they told the coup leaders that an interim government – headed by a civilian or retired military officer – should last for a year at the most.

The mediation team was led by former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan.

It is not yet clear if the issuing of sanctions and suspensions will have any impact on the coup leaders who initially said they were not interested in power.