Mali transition off to rocky start

22 May 2012, 10:54 pm   -   Source: AAP

Mali president's inner circle has denied suggestions he may resign as head of the transition, despite attack.

Mali's one-year transition back to democratic rule has got off to a shaky start after president Dioncounda Traore was attacked by angry protesters.

Traore's inner circle on Tuesday shot down suggestions he may resign as head of the transition, which a UN Security Council delegation warned was in danger after the attack in which the new Malian leader was beaten in his own office on Monday.

"Resigning now would play into the hands of those who are against Mali," said a source from Traore's entourage.

The 70-year-old former speaker has remained out of sight since being released from hospital on Monday afternoon, but his prime minister Cheick Modibo Diarra called for calm, urging youths to put an end to protests in Bamako.

The attack came hours after mediators from the west African bloc ECOWAS left the country pleased at having convinced coup leaders to accept a Traore-led 12-month transition back to democratic rule after a March 22 coup.

France's UN ambassador Gerard Araud told reporters in Abidjan on Monday that diplomatic efforts by ECOWAS have been "put seriously in danger by these latest developments (and) maybe other options will now have to be considered".

A Western diplomatic source said that ECOWAS was mulling deploying a regional military force in Mali to assure the transition.

Anti-coup coalition the United Front for the Protection of Democracy and the Republic (FDR) expressed shock that "appropriate measures were not taken to protect the presidential palace and president" during the protest.

The angry crowd, which was in favour of the ouster of President Amadou Toumani Toure and does not want Traore leading the transition, besieged his offices despite the presence of hundreds of security guards.

One protester was seriously injured and six others hurt as soldiers tried to stop them.

Traore's party, the Malian Democratic Alliance, said the attack "raised serious questions about the state security services" suggesting complicity between the protesters and security forces.

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