Soldiers loot Mali presidency after ousting leader

BABA AHMED MARTIN VOGL Associated Press Published:

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) -- Soldiers looted the presidential palace Thursday hours after saying they were taking control of one of the few established democracies in this corner of Africa. There were conflicting reports on President Amadou Toumani Toure's whereabouts.

Gunfire rang throughout the capital and soldiers carted televisions and other goods out of the palace following a coup announcement on state television. Toure had been due to leave office after elections on April 29, but now it appears the vote will not be held.

One senior official said Toure was safely esconced at a military camp, protected by his red beret-wearing guards. Another denied the report, saying he was not at that base.

The mutineers said they were overthrowing the government because of its mishandling of an ethnic Tuareg insurgency in the country's north that began in January. The rebellion includes fighters who had supported Moammar Gadhafi in Libya and returned home heavily armed when he was overthrown. Tens of thousands of Malian civilians have fled the Tuareg rebellion, prompting fierce criticism of the government.

The coup leaders who declared they were overthrowing the elected president called themselves the National Committee for the Reestablishment of Democracy and the Restoration of the State, or CNRDR.


The soldiers said they intended to hand over power to an elected government. More than a dozen candidates were expected to run in the election next month. Toure was not taking part as he already had served the maximum two terms.

The White House called for the immediate restoration of constitutional rule in Mali.

"The United States stands by the people of Mali and the legitimately elected government of President Amadou Toumani Toure," said a statement released by President Barack Obama's press office.

France said it is suspending all government cooperation with Mali except for aid and counterterrorism efforts and warned all French travelers to avoid traveling to Mali until further notice.

Early Thursday, a group of around 20 soldiers in military fatigues were shown on national television crowding around a desk and facing the camera. They said they were suspending Mali's constitution and dissolving its institutions. The soldiers complained that the civilian government had not done enough to combat a rebellion by the ethnic Tuareg separatists, who want to carve out a homeland in the country's northern desert.

The turmoil drew swift condemnation from the president of regional powerhouse Nigeria, as well as from the African Union and the regional bloc ECOWAS.

The coup is a major setback for one of the region's few established democracies. The ousted president came to power himself in a 1991 coup, but was hailed for handing power to civilians. A decade later, he won the 2002 democratic election. The 63-year-old Toure -- known by his initials ATT -- was due to step down after two, five-year terms.

Contacted by telephone, a soldier at the palace said that the president's bodyguards had failed to fight the renegade soldiers when they burst in. They searched the grounds but could not find Toure.

The mutinous soldiers imposed a nationwide curfew, warning people to stay off the streets until further notice. Land borders were closed, and a flight headed to the capital of Bamako was forced to turn back after the airport closed.

The CNRDR again addressed Malians at midday Thursday, and coup spokesman Lt. Amadou Konare asked public employees to return to work on Tuesday morning. He said any unjustified absences would be considered as an abandonment of service.


Young soldiers on motorcycles were shooting in the air Thursday morning in the capital. Businesses remained shuttered and there was little traffic as most stayed home following the coup announcement.

In recent years, the U.S. military has been helping train some Malian troops in counterterrorism tactics to fight al-Qaida-linked militants who have kidnapped scores of foreigners and held them in the desert in Mali.

But soldiers fighting the recent Tuareg rebellion say they have not been given sufficient supplies, including arms or food. Many soldiers have been killed in the Tuareg insurgency.

The trouble in the capital started when Defense Minister Gen. Sadio Gassama came to a military camp Wednesday for an official visit but failed to address the grievances of the rank-and-file soldiers in his speech to the troops. Recruits started firing into the air. By afternoon, troops had surrounded the state television station, yanking both the television and radio signals off the air for the rest of the day. Wednesday evening, troops rioted at a military garrison in the northern town of Gao, some 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) from Bamako.


The newest rebellion launched in mid-January broke years of relative peace, and has been fueled by the return of Tuaregs from Libya who had fought in Gadhafi's army. Refugees have spilled over into four of the countries neighboring Mali due to the uprising.

Thousands of Tuaregs moved from Mali to Libya over the decades beginning in the 1970s, and many joined special divisions of Gadhafi's military where they earned higher salaries than in Mali. A relationship developed between the Tuareg and Gadhafi, who claimed they had distant blood links.

When the Gadhafi regime fell last year, Tuareg troops smuggled Gadhafi family members to neighboring Algeria and Niger. After Gadhafi was killed in his hometown of Sirte in October, many Tuaregs no longer felt safe in Libya and began returning to Mali.

The Malian government has not disclosed how many of its soldiers have been killed. The toll is believed to be significant and in February, military widows led a protest, publicly grilling Toure on television over his handling of the rebellion.

