(Adds details, background)
By Adama Diarra and Tiemoko Diallo
BAMAKO, April 30 (Reuters) – Soldiers from Mali’s
presidential guard unit, loyal to the country’s ousted
president, battled junta forces on Monday in an effort to wrest
back control of parts of the capital Bamako after a coup,
witnesses and a junta official said.
Heavy gunfire broke out near a key bridge and around the
state broadcaster, witnesses said. Fighting later subsided
around the bridge and members of the red beret presidential unit
were seen leaving the area.
“They left the bridge after a firefight and they are now
moving in the direction of the airport,” a witness said.
Another witness said gunfire continued near the state
broadcaster but normal television and radio programming
continued.
A spokesman for the junta said the fighting was an attempt
by soldiers loyal to Toure to reverse the coup.
“These are elements of the presidential guard from the old
regime and they’re trying to turn things around,” spokesman
Bacary Mariko told Reuters. “We have the situation under
control.”
Mutinous soldiers angered by the government’s handling of a
rebellion by Tuaregs in the vast desert north toppled President
Amadou Toumani Toure on March 22, forcing him to flee the
country.
The coup, which pre-empted a planned April election meant to
replace Toure, has drawn broad international criticism as a
major setback for regional democracy. The northern rebels took
advantage of the chaos to seize several northern towns.
Mali’s ruling junta has named an interim government in a
first step to restoring constitutional order since the coup, but
it has balked at a plan by regional bloc ECOWAS to send more
than 3,000 troops to help oversee the transition.
(Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo, Adama Diarra, David Lewis and;
Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
