BAMAKO: Coup leaders in Mali faced a wave of international pressure on Wednesday, a day after they forced out a president weakened by months of mass protests.
The chorus of disapproval was led by the United States, African Union and European Union - all demanding that the military leaders release President Boubacar Keita, Prime Minister Boubou Cisse and other officials taken captive on Tuesday. Keita, pressed by months of protests over economic stagnation, corruption and a brutal Islamist insurgency, said in a televised address that the military leaders had given him no choice but to resign.
Jubilant crowds had cheered the rebels on Tuesday as they arrived in the capital Bamako. However, there were few obvious traces of the previous day's drama on Bamako's streets on Wednesday - troops had not been deployed en masse despite the coup leaders announcing a night-time curfew.
The UN Security Council was due to hold emergency talks on the situation on Wednesday as international diplomats swung into action to seek a way out of the crisis. Both France and Germany backed the mediation of West African countries, but an effort by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) last month to broker a unity government fell flat after the opposition rejected it. The current chairman of the African Union (AU), South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, called for the "immediate return to civilian rule and for the military to return to their barracks" and the EU's Charles Michel said all prisoners should be freed immediately.
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