Colonel Assimi Goita who served as an officer in the special forces unit of the Malian Armed Forces announced himself on Wednesday as the coup leader who overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

“Let me introduce myself, I am colonel Assimi Goita, chairman of the National Committee for the salvation of the People,” he said after meeting top civil servants.

The colonel had appeared among a group of officers seen on television overnight Tuesday-Wednesday to announce the takeover, but did not speak.

Junta leaders meanwhile called on the public to return to normal life, warned against acts of “vandalism” and threatened to punish any soldier found guilty of extortion.

But they made no reference to the detained political leaders or their whereabouts.

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