(Bloomberg) --

Mali’s coup leaders allowed ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to return home in an apparent gesture of goodwill before regional leaders meet to press their demands for a return to civilian rule.

Heads of state from the Economic Community of West African States will gather virtually later on Friday to discuss the nation’s political crisis. The summit follows a mission last week in which the regional economic bloc failed to have Keita reinstated.

The junta freeing Keita points to a diplomatic effort to try and hold onto power, said Doussouba Konate, a Bamako-based manager at Accountability Lab Mali. “They’ve managed to gain trust by being well-organized,” she said by phone.

One of the coup leaders, Malick Diaw, traveled to neighboring Burkina Faso on Thursday to lobby that nation’s president on the transition process, Ouagadougou-based Radio Omega reported. The junta wants to remain in power until 2023, when Keita’s mandate was due to expire, while Ecowas has pressed for a return to democratic rule within a year.

Keita, 75, dissolved his government and resigned under pressure from soldiers who detained him hours after they staged a mutiny at an army barracks on the outskirts of Bamako. He was first elected to office in 2013, just over a year after his predecessor, Amadou Toumani Toure, was himself ousted in a coup.

Keita is being guarded by army officers at his home, said a person who spoke to Keita and asked not to be identified because he’s not authorized to comment publicly on the matter.

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