BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali's junta yielded to the threat of sanctions on Sunday, pledging to start handing power back to civilians before a midnight deadline, while in the north, separatist rebels seized the ancient trading post of Timbuktu.

Amadou Sanogo, an army captain who led a March 21 coup, pledged to reinstate the constitution and all state institutions before transferring power back to civilians via elections. His promise followed last week's threat by West African regional bloc ECOWAS to impose sanctions, including the potentially crippling closure of borders around the land-locked state.


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-malibre8300h8-20120401,0,5501379.story

Looks like we are witnessing the birth of another country on the African continent. Surprising to me that these Tuareg rebels have defeated Mali's army so quickly...looks like the influx of their kin from Libya has helped.

And of course, doesn't help when your own soldiers join the rebellion..

In a further blow to any possible government counter-offensive, Colonel El Hadj Ag Gamou, the most trusted Tuareg in the army, told France's RFI radio he had joined the rebels with 500 men.

I think the fact that Mali's military core is in such disarray after the coup is one major factor why the Tuareg were able to capture the North. And I also find it interesting, that the fall of the Libyan regime is having reverberations throughout the region. Now that the Tuareg have full control of Northern Mali, the government of Niger need to keep their eye on their local Tuareg population before they become emboldened by their brothers' rapid success.

It remains to be seen if the rest of world will recognize the Tuareg demand for secession and establishing the state of Azawad.

This should be a lesson to those who are calling for coup in Nigeria. In the midst of the prevailing security challenges, coup especially one led by Northern soldier will create a schism in the army where ethnic loyalty will be primary. Imagine a coup that leads to the demise of GEJ and Ihejirika?

Negotiating with the tuareg rebels is better,let the tuareg people form their own country on tuareg soil/land.all these forced marriages by the colonialist are recipies for disaster.