Mali rebels tighten grip on power

[Karpo]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/mal...-1226309321486 Mali rebels tighten grip on power AFP March 25, 2012 1:24AM Mali Coup Rebel soldiers: Mali coup leader Amadou Toumani Toure, third right, has moved to tighten his control by arresting an opposition leader, just days after seizing power. Picture: AP Source: AP MALI'S putschists sought to assert their tenuous hold on power amid rumours of a backlash after their coup. A prominent member of a leading opposition party was briefly arrested by soldiers at his home yesterday after he criticised the coup plotters, who seized control of the west African nation early on Thursday morning. The shock coup by a group of low-ranking soldiers prompted swift international condemnation. The African Union temporarily suspended Mali, Europe froze aid and the United States has threatened to follow suit. In the capital Bamako, few people ventured outside and there were complaints of cash machines running low on money and petrol shortages as trucks backed up at the borders which have been closed since the coup. Sporadic looting by soldiers continued. State television aired re-runs of a statement recorded Friday, denying rumours of the death of their leader, Captain Amadou Sanogo, or that loyalist troops had seized state television. Yesterday morning, a group of soldiers arrested Kassoum Tapo, a member of the Democratic Alliance of Mali which has 54 of the 147 seats in parliament who spoke out against the coup on French international radio RFI. He was released shortly afterwards. However three other Malian politicians, requesting anonymity, said they had gone underground, fearing they were being sought by armed men. "I am in hiding. They are looking for me. We are not going to let the soldiers arrest everyone and make off with our country," one of them said. Several political parties planned to create a "refusal front" against the coup leaders. The soldiers say their takeover was sparked by government's inability to deal with a Tuareg-led insurrection in the north. The insurrection has overwhelmed the military, who claim they are ill-equipped to fight the desert nomads. The whereabouts of President Amadou Toumani Toure remain unknown, although his entourage and the coup leaders have said he is safe. A member of Toure's entourage said that he was under the protection of his elite paratrooper guards. The leader of the coup said the appalling circumstances under which soldiers had to defend their territory had sparked the coup. "When a state is already 50 years old, and unfortunately the armed forces and security operate under minimal conditions to defend its territory, this is a failure," Mr Sanogo said. Mr Sanogo has said all arrested government officials are "safe and sound" and promised the African Union the safe return of top foreign officials who were stranded in Bamako after the coup. AU Commission chief Jean Ping spoke to Mr Sanogo on the phone on Friday and was assured the foreign ministers of Kenya and Zimbabwe as well as a Tunisian secretary of state in charge of Arab and African affairs would return safely, an AU source said. The AU on Friday suspended Mali until the return of a constitutional order and sent a joint delegation with the West African regional bloc ECOWAS. The coup opened the way for Tuareg rebels to deepen their hold on the north, with their National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) saying it had seized the town of Anefis between the key cities Gao and Kidal. MNLA spokesman Hama Ag Sid Ahmed said the coup "will worsen the security situation and drag Mali into extricable crises and conflicts," in an interview to the Algerian daily Echorouk. The Tuareg force has been strengthened by the return of heavily armed fighters who previously fought for Libya's slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Mali is usually seen as politically stable, but unrest in the north, where Tuareg tribes have long felt ignored by a southern government and where al-Qaida has also taken root, has created a major security problem.

[Karpo]

Prior to the Mali military coup, the so-called Democratic government of Mali which was propped up and supported by several Western countries with aid, was massively corrupt. The reason why the West is breaking off ties with the new Mali and cutting 'aid' is because of the gold mines. Randgold (A Western mining company) has been exploiting Mali, and stealing all its resources. Now that the West is cutting of ties with Mali, China will probably fill the vacuum and do what China does, recognize the new government, and have mutual business relations, NOT one sided relations where a puppet president only benefits with the status quo. It is this fair minded business approach that China applies to their trade relations which explains their growing clout and influence throughout the world

[Karpo]

Mali is 90% Muslim majority nation