Mali's embattled coup leader Captain Amadou Sanogo has called for outside help as advancing Tuareg and Islamist fighters seized ground, including a key northern town, from overwhelmed soldiers.
"The rebels continue to attack our country and terrorise our people," coup leader Sanogo told journalists at the junta's headquarters in Bamako.
"The situation is now critical, our army needs support from Mali's friends to save the civilian population and protect Mali's territorial integrity."
Heavy gunfire broke out yesterday as Tuareg rebels entered the main city of northeast Mali, in a relentless advance on an army struggling with the aftermath of a coup, a local official said.
Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, current chairman of the Economic Community of West African States, meanwhile said the regional bloc had put 2,000 troops on standby to intervene if necessary.
The Mali army said early yesterday it had pulled its troops out of two towns in the country's northeast, hours after Tuareg separatist rebels forced them out of the strategic town of Kidal.
The appeal from Sanogo came Friday as the week-old junta, already frozen out by its foreign allies, stares down possible economic sanctions from neighbouring countries, demanding a return to democracy, which could cripple the landlocked nation.
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