This video is called Mali soldiers say president toppled in coup.
From Rick Rozoff’s blog:
March 24, 2012
Mali coup led by US-trained captain
A US Africa Command official confirmed on Friday the leader of a military coup d’état in Mali has visited the US on several occasions, receiving professional military education.
Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo participated in the America’s International Military Education and Training program, sponsored by the US State Department, Public Affairs representative Patrick Barnes revealed to The Washington Post.
Foreign officers are handpicked for the program by US embassies in respective countries. The Malian army is very small, consisting of only 7,000 personnel. With the given small number of officers in this army, it is no wonder that Sanogo had a good chance to get to the US.
On March 22, just a month before a presidential election in the country, Sanogo and soldiers loyal to him stormed the presidential palace in the capital Bamako and overthrew President Amadou Toumani Toure.
The reason for the rebellion was stated as the existing leadership’s relaxed attitude towards Touareg tribes’ insurrection in this north-western African country.
The coup claimed three lives, leaving about 40 wounded.
The rebel soldiers are currently busy looting throughout the city of Bamako.
Despite condemning the coup, the US is not planning to reconsider its $140-million aid program to Mali in 2012.
Conversely, on Friday the African Union suspended Mali’s membership of that organization.
Leader of Mali military coup received U.S. training: here.
West African countries suspended Mali from their economic bloc on Tuesday and decided to send five presidents there in a bid to reverse the week-old coup: here.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) announced on Monday that it is closing Mali’s land borders in an attempt to force out the junta that seized power 13 days ago: here.
The perils of intervention in Mali: here.
Millions face food crisis in conflict zone in Mali: here.
Militarised by the West, Mali suffers coup: here.
US inadvertently creates a terrorist haven in Mali: here.
Just as the international intervention in Libya was aimed in part at denying China access to North African oil, a military intervention in Mali either led by the US or in cooperation with Washington would target Chinese influence in the country: here.
US retools terror war in scramble for Africa: here. And here.
Foreign military intervention in Mali moved a step closer on Tuesday night when France circulated a draft UN resolution urging backing for action by its west African neighbours: here.
Africom‘s influence in the West African power struggle: here. And here.
2012: Year Of U.S. Africa Command Juggernaut: here.
The U.S. military is training Africans to form their own “elite counterterrorism units.”
A French defence official admitted today that France is to move surveillance drones to west Africa: here.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sparked tensions with China with remarks given during her seven-nation tour of the African continent: here.
Related articles
- Imperialists prepare for war in Mali (therearenosunglasses.wordpress.com)
- Rhetoric And Reality Of AFRICOM: Lessons From Mali (eurasiareview.com)
- France sending drones to Mali, talking to U.S. about targeting al-Qaida-linked rebels (mercurynews.com)
- U.S. seeks Algeria’s support in Mali move (dailystar.com.lb)
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
Black flag flies in Timbuktu camp
Mali: Islamist militants linked to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb hoisted their black flag over a military camp in Timbuktu today.
Rebels who first entered the fabled city over the weekend were led by the secular National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad, or NMLA, which is fighting for an independent homeland for the Tuareg people.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/117364
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http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/nato-blamed-for-unrest-in-mali-destabilization-of-sahel/
New Era
April 13, 2012
NATO blamed for Mali unrest
By Toivo Ndjebela
WINDHOEK: Namibia has blamed the architects of last year’s overthrow of the Libyan government for the civil strife and the recent coup against a democratically elected government in Mali.
Tuareg rebels in Mali have proclaimed independence for the country’s northern part after capturing key towns this week.
Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi administration fell last year after local rebels, with the help of NATO forces – and initially France, Britain and the USA – drove the long-serving leader out of the capital Tripoli and ultimately killed him after months in hiding.
The Namibian government believes the events in Libya are now bearing sour fruits within the western and northern parts of Africa, in what is jointly known as the Sahel region.
“The profoundly retrogressive developments in Mali are a direct consequence of the unstable security and political situation in Libya, created by the precipitous military overthrow of the government of Libya in 2011,” a government statement, released Tuesday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, states.
The statement continued: “Accordingly, those countries that rushed to use military force in Libya, had underestimated the severe repercussions of their actions in the Sahel region.”
“They should thus bear some responsibility for the instability in Mali and the general insecurity in the region.”
Nomadic Tuaregs have harboured ambitions to secede from Mali’s northern part since the country’s independence from France in 1960, but lack of foreign support for this idea meant the dream would only be realized 52 years later.
Namibia herself survived a secession attempt in 1999 when a self-styled rebel group, led by former Swapo and DTA politician Mishake Muyongo, now exiled in Denmark, attempted to separate the Caprivi Region from the rest of Namibia.
The Mali situation already cost Amadou Toumani Toure his job last month, when junior army officers overthrew him for what they say was his reluctance to avail resources needed to fight the advancing Tuareg rebels.
Speaker of Mali’s parliament, Doincounda Traore, was expected to be sworn in as president yesterday morning, a development that would restore civilian rule in the humanitarian crisis-hit West African country.
Traore is inheriting control of only half of the country, with northern Mali now falling under control of Tuareg rebels and Islamists.
Namibia said those tearing Mali into administrative pieces should have observed the African Union’s principle of inviolability of borders of the African countries.
“This principle of indivisibility of borders has served Africa well since its adoption by the OAU (Organisation of African Unity) Summit in Cairo in 1964,” the statement further reads.
It further stated: “The Government of Namibia reiterates its unequivocal rejection of any attempt to dismember any African country and unreservedly condemns all manner of secessionist aspirations.”
Namibia is yet to officially recognize the new Libyan government, whose local embassy held a ‘revolution anniversary’ in February without attendance of any notable officials of the Namibian government.
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UN security council hits out at Mali tomb destruction
Friday 06 July 2012
The UN security council threatened sanctions against Islamist fighters in northern Mali today and condemned the destruction of sacred tombs in Timbuktu.
The council also warned of a worsening humanitarian situation and increasing cases of hostage-taking by terrorists in the West African nation.
It demanded the restoration of constitutional order and an end to hostilities following a March coup that allowed Islamists and Tuareg rebels to seize the county’s north.
It did not, however, approve a force proposed by the Economic Community of West African States ECOWAS and the African Union.
http://morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/121111
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General accused of improper spending
US: The Department of Defence admitted today that four-star General William “Kip” Ward is under investigation for allegedly spending hundreds of thousands of dollars improperly.
Gen Ward allegedly spent several hundred thousand dollars allowing unauthorised people, including family members, to fly on government planes and spentexcessive amounts of money on hotel rooms, transport and other expenses when he traveled as head of Africa Command.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/122767
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Islamists fire on women defending their rights
Sunday 07 October 2012
Hundreds of women marched in Timbuktu on Saturday against new rules imposed by Islamist rebels before being dispersed with gunfire.
Resident Mahi Toure said the rebels fired into the air to force the protesters to retreat.
Islamist group Ansar Dine has taken control of the town and has ordered women to wear veils in public and not to leave their homes except in the company of male relatives.
Protesters said some women have been publicly whipped for refusing to obey the new rules, which include a ban on music.
Marcher Cisse Toure told Reuters: “We are tired. They impose veils on us and now we are hunted like bandits for not wearing them.”
A revolt begun by Tuareg separatists has taken over most of northern Mali. But Islamist groups linked to al-Qaida have since gained the upper hand in many areas, destroying ancient buildings and burning medieval documents they deem heretical.
http://morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/124740
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Ansar Dine eject former allies from border town
Wednesday 28 November 2012
Islamists in northern Mali pushed their secular former allies out of the town of Lere today.
Ansar Dine spokesman Sanda Abu Mohammed said that the group now controls the town 37 miles from the Mauritania border.
Ansar Dine had joined together with secular Tuaregs, taking advantage of the power vacuum cause by a March coup against President Amadou Toumani Toure.
They declared the Azawad region independent.
But a number of al-Qaida-linked foreign forces flooded into the lawless region – mainly from Libya – and joined Ansar Dine in imposing a harsh sharia law in the north, driving a wedge between the local ethnic Tuaregs and Islamists.
Tuareg spokesman Mohamed Ag Attaye confirmed the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad fighters had retreated from the town.
But he said the traditionally nomadic people had no problem operating in the deserts outside major settlements.
A plan from the African Union and east African group Ecowas to put together a foreign force to drive out the militants is expected to receive UN security council approval in early December.
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/126612
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