Mali soldiers attack presidency in apparent coup bid

An apparent coup bid was under way in Mali Wednesday as mutinous soldiers attacked the presidency after seizing the state broadcaster in anger over government handling of an insurgency in the north.

An announcement on national radio and television indicated that one of the rebel officers would shortly address the nation amid alarm and calls for calm from abroad.

As sustained gunfire rang out at the palace, one of the mutineers told AFP the situation was "largely to our advantage on the ground at the palace."

"We are hearing more sustained gunfire around the palace," one witness said, noting the use of brightly-burning tracer bullets. Another noted "flames coming from the south of the presidency."

Elite paratroopers known as the "Red Berets" had taken up positions around government buildings late in the afternoon, but were called back to defend the presidency, where an advisor to President Amadou Toumani Toure said earlier that the head of state was holed up.

Toure, himself a former soldier who led the ouster of president-for-life Moussa Traore in 1991 before handing power to civilians, won the election in 2002 and is due to step down in April after serving two presidential terms.

Ever since the country, which has battled successive Tuareg rebellions since independence and more recently Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) activities, has been hailed as a growing democratic success in the region.

The Tuareg, many of whom fled drought and discontent under a southenr government to work and fight for Moamer Kadhafi in Libya, returned heavily armed and battle-experienced after that country's conflict last year.

They organised under the Azawad National Liberation Movement (MNLA) and in mid-January launched a fresh rebellion for independence of what they call Azawad, their stomping ground which makes up the vast desert northern triangle of the bow-tie shaped nation.

Anger has grown in recent weeks over the government's handling of the conflict in which the Tuareg attacks have caused up to 200,000 people to flee.

While no official death toll is available, many soldiers are believed to have died in the fighting.

Wednesday's turmoil erupted when newly-appointed Defence Minister Sadio Gassama visited the Kati military camp some 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the capital to appease tensions over the ongoing insurgency.

His efforts failed and soldiers protested, firing shots into the air as they demanded proper weapons with which to face the rebels.

"We want ammunition to go and fight the Tuareg rebels. Enough is enough," a corporal at the Kati camp told AFP.

"The defence minister came to Kati, but he failed to convince us."

Soldiers took to the capital, firing shots wildly into the air and sending people running in all directions as panic grew.

They then occupied the Malian Radio-Television Office (ORTM) at around 1630 GMT, firing off rounds inside the building.

We are tired of the situation in the north", griped by a Tuareg rebellion, a soldier told AFP among the melee.

A government official from Gao in the north-east, said soldiers in the military camp there had also "fired shots into the air to protest against the hierarchy."

The United Nations, France and the United States expressed alarm at unfolding events and urged a peaceful resolution to the crisis.

"The situation is currently unclear and unfolding quickly," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, urging US citizens to stay indoors.

"We believe that grievances should be addressed through dialogue, not through violence," she said.

Anger has been simmering over government's perceived weak response and in February violent protests broke out as the wives and families of those fighting the rebels took to the streets.

Ill-equipped against the heavily armed Tuareg, in some cases soldiers abandoned their barracks in smaller towns as they withdrew to defend larger targets in the vast, desert zone.

An Islamist group calling itself Ansar Dine, Defenders of Faith, is fighting alongside the MNLA and has demanded the imposition of Islamic Sharia law across Mali -- a goal not supported by the larger movement.

On March 13, Ansar Dine released a video showing images of dead soldiers as well as about 30 who were taken prisoner.

A nomadic community of some 1.5 million people, Tuareg of various tribes are scattered between Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Niger and Mali.

Mali and Niger experienced uprisings as the Tuareg fought for recognition of their identity and an independent state in the 1960s, 1990s and early 2000, with a resurgence between 2006 and 2009.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/soldiers-fire-shots-bamako-storm-state-broadcaster-172111628.html

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