Soldiers Mutiny At Military Base In Mali

Disgruntled soldiers in Mali on Wednesday mutinied at two military bases and cut off broadcasts at state TV and radio, but the president insisted that the country was not facing a coup attempt.

The sounds of heavy weaponry range out into the night in Bamako, where recruits had earlier mutinied at a military base, shooting volleys in the air. Other soldiers stormed the state broadcaster.

The mutiny spread to a military base in Gao, a strategic northern town, where troops captured a half-dozen senior officers and were holding them, according to a military student at the base who requested anonymity because he feared for his safety.

Young soldiers are increasingly angry over the government's failure to come to grips with a northern rebellion of Tuareg separatists. Soldiers who took part in the attack in the capital said they are doing so in order to pressure the government to listen to their demands, and not in an effort to overthrow the landlocked nation's democratically elected leaders.

But in the capital, which has weathered multiple coups, the population was on edge. Businesses barricaded their doors. Office workers rushed to get home.

The series of events began in the morning, after Defense Minister Gen. Sadio Gassama visited the Kati military garrison near the presidential palace in Bamako. In a speech, Gassama did not mention the grievances of the rank-and-file soldiers, who are angry over what they call the government's mismanagement of the fight, and the lack of arms and food supplies.

The rebellion has cost the lives of numerous Malian soldiers and their widows have not yet received compensation.

Recruits started firing into the air, according to a soldier contacted by telephone who asked that his name not be published because he was not authorized to speak to the press. He said that they then stoned the general's car, forcing him to leave the camp in haste.

Tens of thousands of people have fled the north, within Mali and to four neighboring countries due to the uprising in the north.

In Gao, after the soldiers had captured four to five of their commanding officers, they began going door-to-door looking for the commander of the camp, a general who is in charge of operations against the Tuaregs.

Since the afternoon, both state TV and radio had been yanked off the air. Residents in the neighborhood where the state broadcaster is located reported seeing soldiers place a machine gun in front of the TV station.

Armed men stopped cars from going nearby, and only motorcycles could navigate past the newly erected military checkpoints in central Bamako.

Posted in: Africa