Military coup in Mali. Institutions dissolved and curfew.

Soldiers in uniform appeared on national television they had occupied since Wednesday and announced that it had put "an end to the jurisdiction" of Bamako, have dissolved "all institutions" suspended "the constitution" and imposed a curfew.

The spokesman of the mutineers, Lieutenant Amadou Konare, said they had acted against "inability" of the government of President Amadou Toumani Toure "to manage the crisis north of our country", facing a rebellion Tuareg and activities of armed Islamist groups since mid-January.

Lieutenant Konare, surrounded by a dozen others, spoke on behalf of the National Committee for the recovery of democracy and the restoration of the rule (CNRDRE).

Shortly thereafter, the junta leader, Captain Amadou Sanogo, took the floor to announce that a curfew had been decreed from Thursday.

Lieutenant Konare also justified the coup by the "lack of adequate equipment for homeland defense" available to the army to fight against the rebels and armed groups in the north, and "the failure of power to fight against terrorism ".

The junta has "made a solemn commitment to restore the power" civil and implement a national unity government.

"We controlled the presidential palace",  a mutineer had previously announced, another stating that several members of the regime of President Toure, including foreign minister, Soumeylou Boubèye Maiga, and that of Territorial Administration, Kafougouna Kone were arrested.

An independent source has said that President Toure "and his men are no longer in the palace" without specifying where they were.

Exchanges of gunfire between the presidential guard and the mutineers were heard several hours in the night between Wednesday and Thursday.

The day on Wednesday began with a mutiny in a camp in Kati, a garrison town near Bamako, and then had spread to the capital, the soldiers took to the streets shooting into the air, creating panic.

Former colonial power, France wanted the restoration of constitutional order and elections "as soon as possible".

"We condemned the military coup because we are committed to respect for democratic rules and constitutional. We demand the restoration of constitutional order, elections, they were scheduled for April, they must take place on soon as possible ", said Thursday the foreign minister, Alain Juppe.

The coup suspended the electoral process that included a presidential election the first round  of which was scheduled for April 29.

The U.S. State Department urged the Mali resolve tensions "through dialogue and not violence." Secretary General Ban Ki-moon "called for calm and that grievances are resolved peacefully."

In early February, relatives of soldiers and women were demonstrating in several cities including Bamako, to denounce the silence on the situation of the military and "soft power" against the rebellion.

Some of these demonstrations had turned violent and property belonging to Tuareg and other Malians and foreigners with fair skin had been ransacked.

President Toure had managed to calm down the demonstration by these women by promising them they could hear from their husbands at the front.

 Since mid January Mali has been facing  attacks from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and other Tuareg rebels, whose heavily armed meno had fought for the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, who took several cities in the north.

A Tuareg armed Islamist movement, Ansar Dine (Defender of Islam) who wants to impose Sharia law in Mali, claimed control of three cities in the northeast, near the Algerian border: Tinzawaten, Tessalit Aguelhok.

The Malian government has also accused Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which has bases in northern Mali where it operates in several Sahelian countries, of fighting  with the MNLA. AQIM was particularly accused of summarily executing nearly a hundred  Malian soldiers at Aguelhok.