Taken down a peg
Posted: December 5, 2013 Filed under: Mali | Tags: Bamako, Captain Amadou Sanogo, coup, human rights, IBK, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Kati, Mali, Moussa Traoré, Red Berets, Sanogo Leave a commentA former coup leader is dragged to court
IT SEEMS unlikely that Amadou Sanogo will be remembered for much other than his incompetence. The Malian army captain bungled his way to power last year as leader of a coup, clearing the way for ethnic rebels and religious extremists to take over half the country. His clumsy posturing isolated Mali diplomatically and brought it close to ruin. Only popular discontent and bloodthirsty supporters lent the captain—a man of much ego and little talent—a measure of power. Until now. Read the rest of this entry »
Escape from Timbuktu: Foreigners Flee as Mali’s Rebels Declare Independence
Posted: April 6, 2012 Filed under: Mali | Tags: Africa, al-Qaeda, Ansar Eddine, AQIM, coup, Gao, Iyad Ag Ghali, Mali, Mauritania, MNLA, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, MUJWA, Omar Hamaha, rebels, Timbuktu, Tuareg Leave a comment
A handout picture released by Azawad National Liberation Movement (MLNA) on April 2, 2012 and taken in February 2012 reportedly shows MNLA fighters gathering in an undisclosed location in Mali. AFP / GETTY IMAGES
Caked in dust and bristling with weaponry, the Tuareg rebels smiled at Neil Whitehead and Diane English. “It’s okay, we’re here for your protection,” one of the veiled warriors grinned at the nervous couple. Caught up in the middle of a war after Tuareg separatists advanced hundreds of miles in a matter of hours, the hotel-owners had tried twice already to leave their adopted home of Timbuktu. At first, retreating army columns had blocked their way. Then, when the road eventually cleared, English and Whitehead ran straight into a firefight. “There were guns going off all around us and tracer going past the cab windows, and we thought, ‘This isn’t good’,” English says, with a flash of understatement. Read the rest of this entry »
Mali à l’aise
Posted: March 29, 2012 Filed under: Mali | Tags: Amadou Toumani Toure, Bamako, Captain Amadou Sanogo, CNRDRE, coup, Kati, Mali, MNLA, Tuareg Leave a commentMali’s coup leaders tighten their hold but inspire little confidence
IF ANYONE knows what is happening in Mali, it should be Captain Amadou Sanogo. Sliding forward on the shiny beige sofa into which he has sunk, he insists that things are moving “as I want. Moving as I prepared…allowing me to engage, to start with my processes.” Yet the 40-year-old officer with a sandpaper rasp seems to be putting a brave face on what looks, in fact, like an accidental coup that was almost invited by the government it toppled. Read the rest of this entry »
West’s ally in volatile region is rocked by soldier’s revolt
Posted: March 23, 2012 Filed under: Mali | Tags: Amadou Toumani Toure, Bamako, Captain Amadou Sanogo, coup, Gaddafi, international condemnation, Libya, Mali, Qaddafi, Red Berets, Tuareg, UN Leave a commentWithin 24 hours Mali’s stable democracy has reached the brink of civil war, reports Julius Cavendish in Bamako
Mali was on the brink of civil war last night after mutinous soldiers led by a cadre of young officers seized the capital, Bamako, but failed to corner President Touré, who regrouped outside the city with a crack unit of paratroopers.
The renegade soldiers, angered by the Government’s failure to arm them to fight Tuareg rebels, stormed the presidential palace overnight, arresting senior members of the Cabinet.
Some troops fuelled by alcohol then went on a rampage, looting the palace, which bestrides limestone cliffs overlooking the centre of Bamako, and carting off flat-screen televisions, computer monitors and photocopiers. Read the rest of this entry »
Mali: Big Trouble in a Poor Country Awash in Post-Gaddafi Weapons
Posted: March 22, 2012 Filed under: Mali | Tags: Amadou Konare, Amadou Toumani Toure, Bamako, coup, Mali, National Committee for the Return of Democracy and the Restoration of the State, Red Berets Leave a commentRenegade soldiers claim to have overthrown the government as the president claims otherwise. Meanwhile, rebels armed with Libyan firepower watch and wait
To the clatter of gunfire and under the cover of darkness the president who ushered Mali into an unprecedented era of multiparty democracy fled the West African country’s sleepy capital Bamako last night as an army mutiny rapidly escalated into a full-blown coup attempt. The renegade soldiers had claimed to have seized the country after storming the presidential palace during the night. But President Amadou Toumani Toure’s reappearance at a nearby military cantonment, apparently at the head of a crack bodyguard of ‘Red Beret’ paratroopers, now leaves Mali on the brink of a civil war — apart dealing with the thorny Tuareg rebellion that helped precipitate the military uprising. In less than 24 hours one of Africa’s most stable democracies has turned upside down. Read the rest of this entry »
julius cavendish 