BAMAKO, mali — Drunken soldiers looted Mali’s presidential palace hours after they declared a coup Thursday, suspending the constitution and dissolving the institutions of one of the few established democracies in this troubled corner of Africa.
The whereabouts of the country’s 63-year-old president, Amadou Toumani Toure, who was one month away from stepping down after a decade in office, could not be confirmed.
The soldier heading the group of putschists gave an interview on state television late Thursday, saying Toure is “doing well and is safe.” Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo refused to say where the ousted leader is being kept and did not make clear whether those involved in the coup are holding him.
The U.N. Security Council issued a statement denouncing the coup, calling for the safety and security of the president, for the troops to return to barracks, and for the restoration of democracy.
The scene in this normally serene capital was unsettling to those proud of Mali’s history as one of the few mature democracies in the region. Soldiers smelling of alcohol ripped flat-screen TVs, computer monitors, printers and photocopiers out of the presidential palace, carting them off in plain sight. Others in pickups zoomed across the broad avenues, holding beer bottles in one hand and firing automatic weapons with the other.
The mutineers said they were overthrowing the government because of its mishandling of an ethnic Tuareg insurgency in the country’s north that began in January. Tens of thousands of Malian civilians have been forced to flee.
The soldiers sent to fight the separatists have been killed in large numbers, often after being sent to the battlefield with inadequate arms and food supplies, prompting fierce criticism of the government.
The coup began Wednesday, after young recruits mutinied at a military camp near the capital. The rioting spread to a garrison thousands of miles away in the strategic northern town of Gao.
Troops had surrounded the state television station in Bamako. At dawn Thursday, about 20 soldiers huddled behind a table, facing the camera. They introduced themselves as the National Committee for the Reestablishment of Democracy and the Restoration of the State, known by its French acronym, CNRDR.
“The CNRDR representing all the elements of the armed forces, defensive forces and security forces has decided to assume its responsibilities and end the incompetent and disavowed regime of Amadou Toumani Toure,” they said, reading from a statement.
The soldiers said they intended to hand over power to an elected government, though they made no mention of the fact that elections were supposed to be held April 29. More than a dozen candidates were expected to run. Toure was not in the race.
Criticism of the coup was swift. France is suspending all government cooperation with Mali, except for aid. In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said officials were meeting to discuss whether to cut off the $137 million in annual U.S. assistance.
