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US calls on Mali coup leader to step aside

Burkina Faso's foreign affairs minister Djibril Bassole and Malia's junta leader Captain Amadou Sanogo attend a news conference in Kati, outside Mali's capital Bamako, April 1, 2012. REUTERS /Luc Gnago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department on

Friday called on the officer who led a military coup in Mali in March to step aside and allow for the

full return to civilian rule.

The State Department said the coup leaders had undermined democracy and

hampered the West African nation’s ability to respond to the humanitarian crisis in northern

Mali.

“A strong, stable democratic government in Mali is essential in order for the country to

deal successfully with its multiple economic, social and security challenges,” the department said in a

statement.

The military nominally handed over power to Dioncounda Traore in April, but the

agreement runs out later this month.

Captain Amadou Sanogo, who led the coup, wants to take back

power once Traore’s 40-day mandate is up, aides said on Thursday.

The coup has left Mali

diplomatically isolated and allowed a mix of separatist and Islamist rebels to seize all the main towns

in the desert north, sweeping with them fighters linked to al Qaeda.

The State Department said

it would maintain its sanctions against Sanogo, other coup leaders and the government of Mali until the

military steps down and democracy is restored.

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