Pro-junta demonstrators stage another day of March in Mali

Pro-junta demonstrators on Wednesday staged another march in the Malian capital Bamako to show support for the National Committee for the Redressment of Democracy and Restoration of the State (CNRDRE), which declared the takeover of state power last week.The demonstrators chanted slogans in support of the CNRDRE and the Malian army in their action to “recover the national unity, territorial integrity and social cohesion.” The march is the second this week. On Monday, hundreds of young demonstrators took to the streets, shouting “Live long CNRDRE” and blaming all the problems on the ousted president, Amadou Toumani Toure. Organizers put the number of marchers at thousands on Wednesday. The pro-junta demonstrators also voiced slogans of “down with France, down with ECOWAS, down with Alassane Dramane Ouattara.” Cote d’Ivoire’s President Ouattara, who also holds the presidency of the West African bloc ECOWAS, hosted an extraordinary summit on Tuesday in Abidjan to suspend the membership of Mali. Mali’s former colonial power France is also pressing the junta to hand over power and return to the constitutional order.The African Union on Friday suspended Mali, reiterating zero tolerance for any unconstitutional change of government and its total rejection of any seizure of power by force.The pro-junta marches came after 38 Malian political parties and civil society associations regrouped on Sunday under the banner of the “United Front for Protection of Democracy and the Republic (FUSADER)” to express their opposition to Thursday’s military coup d’etat and demand the return to constitutional order. ECOWAS, among others, has decided to send a mission of the five presidents of Liberia, Niger, Burkina Faso, Benin and Nigeria to Mali within 48 hours.