adminThe charter, which did not specify when the elections would be held, came hours after the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) threatened sanctions and the use of military force to reverse last week’s coup that ousted President Amadou Toumani Toure.
A statement read out on behalf of the coup leaders on state television said none of them would stand in the upcoming elections.
It added that civilians would be offered 15 out of 41 posts in a new transitional authority intended to prepare the path for elections.
Captain Amadou Sanogo, a US-trained soldier who led the coup, will appoint an interim prime minister and government.
The new constitution guarantees the right to demonstrate or go on strike. It also granted immunity to the leaders of the coup, which left three people dead.
The coup, triggered by army anger at the government’s handling of a northern rebellion, has been condemned by the United Nations, Mali’s neighbours and powers including France and the United States.
But several thousand Malians protested yesterday against international interference in the largest show of backing for the new leadership, insisting the soldiers be left to run the state while tackling the rebellion.
“They should stay to resolve the problems in the north, corruption and education. That is more important than elections,” said one protester, Khalifa Sogo, of the dissatisfaction felt by many Malians with Toure’s rule.
“It’s the first show of public support,” Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from the capital Bamako, said, adding that some people claimed it was choreographed by coup leader Sanogo.
“He has to show the world that he’s popular, that people love him, that people are taking to the streets to defend his policies.”
The show of support came as the coup leaders faced growing international pressure and isolation.
Ecowas has suspended Mali’s membership and sent five presidents to Mali to try to “restore constitutional order”.
The bloc is also putting a peacekeeping force on standby.
Alassane Ouattara, the president of Cote d’ivoire, who holds the rotating chair of Ecowas, told reporters after an emergency meeting in the capital of his nation, which itself was shot up and bloodied in a political crisis last year, that Mali’s democracy cannot be abandoned.
“We cannot allow this country, endowed with such precious democratic instruments dating back at least two decades, to leave history by regressing. It’s why Mali needs to immediately return its democratic institutions to normal,” said Ouattara.
“This position is non-negotiable.”
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, Sanogo defended the coup he led, saying the president he deposed had failed the country.
Sanogo also blamed the toppled government for not doing enough to deal with Tuareg fighters in the north.
“What drove us to end the rule of President Amadou Toure is the long-standing crisis in the north; the armed gangs are killing people and it became very difficult for the developmental programme to succeed, which left the army in a disastrous situation,” Sanogo said.
“We’ve set up a technical team to look into possible solutions for the crisis in the north. War and military confrontation is not the preferred choice, and those in the north are our brothers and they can sit with us at the negotiating table,” Sanogo said.
While Mali has been hailed as a successful democracy, simmering discontent over the government’s handling of the north — also torn by drug and arms trafficking
and kidnappings of Westerners — has seen the coup leaders win favour among some Malians.
“ATT sold the north, he is the rebel chief. (Mali) is a fake democracy,” said one demonstrator, Kaba Diakhite, an engineer, referring to the former president.
Meanwhile, thousands of demonstrators chanted pro-junta slogans in Mali’s capital yesterday, protesting against foreign powers’ threats to use sanctions to force the leaders of last week’s coup to step down.
The coup, seen as a setback to fragile democratic gains in Africa, was triggered by army anger at President Toure’s handling of a northern Tuareg rebellion that in recent weeks has gained ground and inflicted losses on the army.
Regional neighbours said they were prepared to use sanctions and possible military force to dislodge Mali’s new army leaders, urging them to hand back power to civilians, while former colonial power France has suspended aid.
“I want the international community to shut up. This is our revolution,” said youth leader Oumar Diara at the rally — the largest in the Malian capital Bamako since Toure was ousted.
“We, the youth, can live without the international community. We have been living with our eyes closed but now we are waking up,” he said.
Protesters chanted “Victory” and “Down with Sarkozy, down with the Westerners” while a senior member of the junta, Oumar Mariko, called those pressing for sanctions on Mali “traitors”. Banners read “Long live the army!” and “Dignity refound!”. — Al Jazeera.
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