Mali soldiers claim to have overthrown government - latimes.com

Mali soldiers claim to have overthrown government - latimes.com: "REPORTING FROM KANO, NIGERIA -- After fighting in Bamako, Mali's capital, a group of Malian soldiers calling themselves the National Committee for the Establishment of Democracy appeared on state television early Thursday claiming to have ousted President Amadou Toumani Toure for "incompetence."

The coup came just a month before the country was due for elections, when Toure was to stand down. The trigger appeared to be anger in the military over the government's inability to handle a rebellion by a Tuareg militia in the north of the country.

A spokesman for the soldiers, Lt. Amadou Konare, appeared on state television and informed the country that the government and other institutions of power had been dissolved.

The fate of the president was not known, and several government ministers were arrested, according to news agency reports."

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