UPDATE 1-West African leaders to hold extraordinary summit on Mali crisis

(Recasts after meetings, quotes, background)
By Tiemoko Diallo
BAMAKO, July 23 (Reuters) - West African leaders will hold a
virtual extraordinary summit on Monday to propose measures to
end the deepening political crisis in Mali after five heads of
state met with the government and the opposition in the
country's capital city Bamako on Thursday.
The presidents from five West African countries held talks
all day with various parties to an end to the political
stalemate that has rocked the country and raised fears it could
undermine a regional fight against Islamist militants.
"We have decided that we will report back to all the heads
of state during an extraordinary meeting on Monday July 27,"
said Mahamadou Issoufou, Niger's President and current chair of
the 15-member regional ECOWAS bloc.
"ECOWAS will take strong measures that will contribute to
the resolutions of the crisis," Issoufou told journalists after
the meetings.
Infuriated by corruption, disputed local election results
and army losses to jihadists, tens of thousands of people have
taken to the streets in recent weeks, sparking clashes with
police in which the United Nations says at least 14 protesters
have died this month.
The opposition, a group called M5-RFP whose figurehead is
Saudi-trained Muslim cleric Mahmoud Dicko, has said it will not
quit until President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita steps down, raising
concerns in neighbouring countries of a protracted crisis.
Dicko told journalists after a final meeting late on
Thursday that there had been no progress, and nothing had been
offered at the moment that was acceptable to them.
"M5-RFP demands the resignation of Keita or the satisfaction
of our demands," which include the establishment of a committee
of inquiry into civilian deaths and a transitional government,
the group's spokesman Nouhoum Togo had told Reuters on Thursday.
Niger's Issoufou said however that ECOWAS drew a red line on
the demand for President Keita to resign.
"There will be no unconstitutional change of power in the
ECOWAS region," Issoufou said.