Alexis Okeowo writing in the New Yorker:
Residents of Bamako, the capital of Mali, say that they didn’t see the coup coming. After a long night of gunfire in a battle between young, low-ranking government soldiers (most under the rank of captain) who had staged a mutiny and Presidential palace guards, the country underwent a radical regime change without anyone being completely aware of what had happened. Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure disappeared. In his place was a new military leadership, now in control of the state television channel, an unruly-looking bunch broadcasting a message to citizens: they had put an end to the “incompetent regime” of Toure. The soldiers, who call themselves the National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy and State, said they’d let Malians know when it was safe for them to turn over rule to a democratic leader. The whereabouts of President Toure are still unknown, and the allegiances of more senior military officers are unclear...[continue reading]
Photograph by Malin Palm/Reuters.
