News
Four West African presidents turn back from Mali
A diplomat from one of the four West African countries who was at the airport Thursday confirmed that “the meeting will be held in a different country.”
Last week’s coup happened in one of the few established democracies in the troubled western half of the African continent. Sanogo is now based at the Kati garrison, a military camp located a dozen kilometers from the presidential palace.
It was at that garrison that a mutiny erupted on March 21, led by troops angry over the treatment of fellow soldiers killed in operations in the country’s north, where they were sent to fight Tuareg rebels. The soldiers accused the country’s democratically elected President Amadou Toumani Toure of mishandling the operations and of sending the military to the remote region without enough ammunition.
Several thousand people took to the streets this week in support of the military takeover, indicating that frustration at Toure’s handling of the rebellion is widespread. Toure has gone into hiding and his whereabouts are unknown. He gave an interview Thursday to French radio RFI saying that he was in good health and was carefully following the developments.
The four presidents arriving Thursday are coming under the aegis of the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States. The regional bloc has suspended Mali’s membership.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
