Mali leader leaves AU summit after deadly violence
ibrahim boubacar keita

Ibrahim Boubacar Keita

Bamako — Mali’s president has pulled out of attending the African Union summit to visit the restive city of Gao following the deaths of protesters in violent demonstrations against the United Nations, aides said yesterday.Ibrahim Boubacar Keita had been due to fly yesterday to Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, a day ahead of a meeting of the 54-nation bloc, but changed his plans following the bloodshed in Mali’s restive north.

“The head of state has just flown to Gao. He has gone there to comfort the people of Gao following the three protesters being shot dead,” an aide said.

The UN was forced to withdraw a plan to create a “temporary security zone” in the northern town of Tabankort after a huge protest in Gao by pro-government youths who said it would undermine loyalist armed groups fighting rebels in the area.

Three people were killed Tuesday on a second day of demonstrations against the UN. Witnesses described a huge crowd of angry youths throwing stones and attempting to storm the headquarters in Gao of Minusma, the UN’s military mission in Mali.

Minusma initially denied it was behind the deaths but later said it would investigate to establish its role in the violence.

Tabankort is part of a large swathe of desert which is the cradle of a Tuareg separatist movement that wants independence for the homeland it calls “Azawad”, and from which several rebellions have been launched since the 1960s. — AFP

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