Mali soldiers say they have seized power

Friday
March 23,  2012

Africa

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Malian soldiers stand on a street of Bamako on March 21, 2012. A group of renegade Mali soldiers said March 22, 2012 they had seized power from an "incompetent regime," announcing on television the dissolution of state institutions and suspension of the constitution. AFP 

By AFP
Posted  Thursday, March 22  2012 at  08:59

A group of renegade Mali soldiers said Thursday they had seized power from an "incompetent regime," announcing on television the dissolution of state institutions and suspension of the constitution.

The spokesperson of the soldiers, calling themselves the National Committee for the Establishment of Democracy, said they had acted due to government's "incapacity" to handle an insurrection in the north of the country.

The soldiers said they had seized the presidential palace and arrested several ministers after a gunbattle, in an apparent coup bid in the west African nation.

"We are in control of the presidential palace," one of the rebels told AFP on condition of anonymity as a group of soldiers appeared on state television, seized several hours earlier.

Another fighter said Foreign Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga and Interior Minister Kafouhouna Kone were among those held by the officers.

Meanwhile an independent source said President Amadou Toumani Toure, earlier holed up in the palace as shots were traded outside, had managed to leave the premises.