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Envoys Arrive in Mali to Meet With Military Junta, Ousted President Keita

Kassim Traoré

   BAMAKO, MALI - West African envoys led by former Nigerian President
   Goodluck Jonathan arrived Saturday in Mali's capital city of Bamako to
   meet with the military junta that forced President Ibrahim Boubacar
   Keita's resignation and the government's disbanding earlier this week.
   Members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
   delegation also will meet with the ousted president, Keita, along with
   government and military officials detained by the rebel soldiers, an
   ECOWAS source told AFP.
   The envoys' visit comes one day after thousands crowded into Mali's
   capital in a raucous show of support for the military junta.

   Demonstrators in Bamako -- some raising banners touting the National
   Committee for the Salvation of the People, the junta's name for itself
   -- also denounced the Economic Community of West African States
   (ECOWAS) for condemning the coup and for closing Mali's borders to
   neighbors in the regional bloc's 14 other member nations.

   The military junta's leaders said Friday they have reopened air and
   land borders.

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