Mali junta forces hunt down counter-coup soldiers

Gunfire has been heard in Mali's capital Bamako for a third day as junta patrols hunt down soldiers who had tried to stage an counter-coup.

Panicking residents fled the city centre - but there has been no fresh fighting, a junta spokesperson said.
The shots were fired into the air to break up a student protest, according to Bakary Mariko.
Fighting broke out on Monday after reports that leaders of the anti-junta presidential guard would be arrested.
'Footballers stranded'

Mali coup: Junta forces 'overrun rivals' camp'

Pro-junta forces in Mali have taken control of the main anti-junta military base after two days of fighting in the capital, Bamako, witnesses say.

Junta forces are going through the camp looking for any remaining troops, a witness told the BBC.
The shooting broke out late on Monday after reports that the leaders of the presidential guard would be arrested.

Guinea-Bissau junta agrees pact with some parties

The junta in Guinea-Bissau has said it is setting up a transitional government along with some political parties as criticism of the coup continues.

Representatives of all of the defeated candidates in the first round of the presidential election have reportedly condemned the coup last Thursday.
Soldiers toppled the government over its alleged plans to reduce the size of the army.
No president has completed a term since independence from Portugal in 1974.
A delegation from the regional bloc Ecowas is hoping to persuade the junta to hand back power.
The latest coup happened just before the second round of presidential elections on 29 April, called after the death in January of President Malam Bacai Sanha following a long illness.
The front-runner, outgoing Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior, is being detained by the army along with the interim President, Raimundo Pereira.
Trade unions have called for a general strike in protest at the coup.
Borders closed A spokesperson for opposition parties, Fernando Vaz, said that existing political institutions, including parliament, would be dissolved and replaced by a National Transitional Council.
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