Mali state TV goes off air; fear of countercoup *Posted: Mar 23, 2012 5:09
AM CDT * *Updated: Mar 23, 2012 2:49 PM CDT *
 By BABA AHMED and MICHELLE FAUL
Associated Press

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) - Television screens throughout the landlocked country of
Mali went black Friday, as residents near the building housing the state
broadcaster saw troops erecting heavy barricades fearing a possible
countercoup a day after a military takeover.

On Thursday, mutinous troops seized control of the state television and
radio station, and announced a coup. The country's democratically elected
president has not been heard from since.

Shots were heard ringing out Friday from outside the broadcaster, and large
numbers of soldiers were seen amassing outside. The signal flickered back
on for some time, then off again. A message appeared calling for the
population to remain calm.

President Amadou Toumani Toure, who was overthrown in this week's military
takeover, is himself a seasoned soldier, who headed the country's parachute
commando unit. There has been speculation that loyalist troops, especially
those at the 33rd Parachute Infantry Regiment which Toure once belonged to
will attempt to take back power.

Contacted by telephone, resident Mohamed Traore said that after the signal
went dead, he went outside and saw the troops rushing to put up large
defenses. He lives 300 yards from the broadcaster and says that when he
went to speak to them, the soldiers told him that the red beret-wearing
loyalists were planning an attack. Freelance reporter Katarina Hoije, who
is staying in the Laico Hotel which faces the broadcaster, said that she
heard sporadic shots and saw troops arriving in large numbers outside the
station.

Mali is considered one of the only functioning democracies in the region.
This week's coup represents a major setback for the nation of 15.4 million
at the feet of the Sahara desert. Although Toure initially took power in a
1991 coup, he became known as the "Soldier of Democracy" because he handed
power to civilians, and retreated from public life. Years later he
re-emerged to win the 2002 election and was re-elected in 2007.

He was due to step down next month at the end of his term. A dozen
candidates were running in the April 29 vote, which is now in jeopardy.

The fears of a possible countercoup come as rebels from the Tuareg ethnic
group pushed toward three strategic northern Malian towns, including the
famed ancient city of Timbuktu, taking advantage of the power vacuum caused
by the coup

The second-in-command of the Tuareg rebels said his forces are advancing on
the city of Kidal as dozens of government soldiers desert and others
abandon their positions in the wake of the military takeover in the faraway
capital, located nearly 1,300 kilometers (some 800 miles) away.

Col. Dilal ag Alsherif told The Associated Press in an exclusive satellite
telephone interview that command of the West African nation's army is in
disarray and his movement is taking advantage to fight for an independent
nation for the lighter-skinned Tuaregs, who have long felt marginalized by
the capital.

Ag Alsherif said he was speaking Friday from "very near to Kidal, you could
say I am almost in Kidal," the northern government stronghold that is his
next target. He said his men took the garrison of Anefis, a town south of
Kidal, without a fight on Thursday. Meanwhile, in the equally important
northern town of Gao, the head of a resident's committee said that the
population had issued a "code red" because of rumors that the rebels were
about to attack. And in Timbuktu, once a tourist hotspot, a member of a
citizens' militia said the rebels had contacted them to say that they
wanted to take over the town.

Ironically the putschists said in their first public communique on Thursday
that they had seized power because of President Toure's incompetent
handling of the Tuareg insurgency. The rank-and-file soldiers are
overwhelmingly from the south, and from ethnic groups that do not share the
same culture as the Tuaregs. They have died in large numbers trying to keep
towns in the north out of the hands of the Tuareg rebels ever since the
rebellion started in January.

Instead of stopping the insurgency in the north, the coup is making it
easier for the rebels to gain ground.

On Thursday, the whereabouts of Mali's democratically elected leader was
unknown. African Union Chairman Jean Ping said he understood the president
is being protected by loyalist soldiers.

"The president is in Mali for sure - not so far from Bamako," Ping said.
"He is safe. We have been assured of that by those who protect him." He
added that the putschists were likely to face resistance because not all
units in the army had backed them.

"I think that the insurgents have not succeeded to have the officers with
them," he said. "All the officers have not joined them. So they still have
problems."

___

Michelle Faul contributed from Niamey, Niger. Associated Press writers
Rukmini Callimachi in Dakar, Senegal, Martin Vogl in Bamako, Mali, and Luc
van Kemenade in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia also contributed to this report.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


--
-Laye
==============================
"With fair speech thou might have thy will,
With it thou might thy self spoil."
--The R.M

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