Diplomat Source: The Coup On Toure Has Ethnical Motives, Not Foreign Hands

A Malian diplomatic official said the military coup that toppled President Ammadou Toure has racial motives, denying, however, any foreign-hand behind the stage.Boukari Daou, an official at the Malian Foreign Ministry told Echorouk reporter, Lakhdar Rezaoui, that stagers of the military coup against President Amadou Toumani Toure are all of black origins hailing from southern Mali, adding that their coup has been motivated by the fact that President Amadou Toure did not dealt firmly enough with the arch-rival Tuareg rebellion in the north. The coup leaders felt threat from the growing force of Tuareg rebels, the source said, denying report that the coup was supported by foreign parties.The leader of the military coup, Amadou Haya Sanoga, underwent basic officer training in the United States, the Obama administration acknowledged.The source further added that calm has been relatively restored in the capital Bamako, as the army eased the curfew and toughened control over official institutions. Banks and shops were kept close, amid fears that armed clashes between the coup stagers and pro toppled president forces would outburst. The irony is that the coup is creating a power vacuum that the rebels seem to be using to make a push for the main towns in the north, where they want to carve out a Tuareg nation.The current Tuareg-led rebellion in the north started earlier this year after thousands of well-armed and trained Tuareg fighters returned from Libya.Meanwhile, Amadou Sanoga, vowed to help three African ministers stranded by the coup to return home.Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula, Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, and Tunisian State Minister for Arab and African Affairs, Abdellah El-Triki were in Mali to attend an African Union meeting on peace and security in the Sahel region and could not leave Bamako as the country’s borders were sealed and airports closed following the coup.