Coup leaders in Mali promise elections

The soldiers who overthrew Mali’s government call themselves the National Committee for the Salvation of the People. The coup leaders claimed on Wednesday they would eventually hold democratic elections. They also announced a closed-borders policy and a nighttime curfew, then called for a return to business as usual. “The social and political tension has undermined the proper functioning of the country for quite a while,” spokesman Col. Maj. Ismael Wague said.

Will other nations intervene? The European Union, United Nations, and African Union all condemned the uprising. France, which colonized Mali and controlled it until 1960, pressed the coup leaders to release former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, who resigned Tuesday night after his capture. The UN Security Council met on Wednesday afternoon and told the soldiers to “return to their barracks without delay.”

Dig deeper: Read Mindy Belz’s report in Globe Trot on Western actions to stop Malian jihadists.