Mali hit by looting after coup
BAMAKO, March 24 ( Reuters) Soldiers looted petrol stations and hijacked cars in Mali's capital Bamako on Friday, 48 hours after a military coup, and the African Union said it had assurances that President Amadou Toumani Toure was safe.
The AU suspended Mali's membership after the coup, which has left the West African nation in limbo and jangled nerves in a region suffering aftershocks from last year's Libyan war.
"We have been told that the president is safe, protected by a certain number of loyalists," AU Commission head Jean Ping told reporters after a meeting of the bloc's Peace and Security Council in Addis Ababa.
" The president is in Mali for sure. The assurances we are getting from those that are protecting him is that he is not far from Bamako," Ping said.
Rumours swirled of an imminent counter- coup led by Toure loyalists and that Amadou Sanogo, the army captain named as coup leader, had been killed, a suggestion denied on state TV.
" We assure you that everything is fine," a statement from the coup's leaders said. " We invite you to go about your daily business as normal." Sanogo later appeared on the evening news, but it was not clear when the shots of him were taken.
The coup's leaders have sought to capitalise on pop- ular dissatisfaction at Toure's handling of a rebellion by northern nomads launched in January. But they looked isolated as a coalition of parties condemned the coup and urged new elections, which before Wednesday's events had been scheduled for April.
" The signatories ... condemn this forceful takeover which is a major setback for our democracy," 10 parties including ADEMA, the largest in parliament, said in a joint declaration.