British urged to leave Mali as rebel gunmen attack northern city of Gao ten days after reclaiming capital
British citizens currently in Mali, West Africa, are being urged to leave.
The Foreign Office has changed its travel advice, urging everyone except those who have urgent business there to leave.
The new advice follows a coup attempt last week and specifically warns residents of the capital, Bamako, to be cautious.
The new advice follows a coup attempt last week and specifically warns residents of the capital, Bamako, to be cautious.
In a statement, the Foreign Office said: “We advise against all travel to Mali and you should leave if you do not have an urgent need to stay.”
He said the curfew that had been imposed from 6pm to 6am had been lifted, but added: “We continue to advise British citizens in Bamako to exercise caution and stay away from crowds and demonstrations. when they travel through the city.
‘There have been reports that some shops were starting to run out of supplies and that long queues were forming outside some banks.
Soldiers walk past the ransacked presidential palace days after mutinous soldiers claimed power in a coup, in Bamako.
“Given the current instability in the country, and now that the airport has reopened, you should leave if you don’t have an urgent need to stay.”
The rebels already attacked the strategic city of Gao, in northern Mali, a day after taking the provincial capital of Kidal..
The two cities are important prizes for Tuareg rebels, who launched an insurgency in January fueled by the flow of weapons from the fall of neighboring Libya, where many of the rebels had been on the payroll of former Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi.
The curfew that had been imposed from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. is lifted.
If Gao falls, the only other major city in northern Mali in government hands is Timbuktu.
A soldier stationed at a military camp on the outskirts of Gao said he could hear the sound of heavy weapons fire on Saturday.
A Gao resident said he had seen Tuareg fighters in the town and that there were brief gunfights in the town. He said people had barricaded themselves in their homes.
The rebels already attacked the strategic city of Gao, in northern Mali, a day after taking the provincial capital of Kidal.
The soldier and the resident requested anonymity because they feared retaliation.
Mali now faces severe economic sanctions over the coup.
A representative of the military junta that took control of Mali in a coup last week says the group is confident of finding a solution to the crisis after meeting with Burkina Faso’s president.
Colonel Moussa Coulibaly told reporters after Saturday’s meeting in Burkina Faso that the junta delegation “leaves feeling confident and we hope that in the shortest possible period we will reach a consensus on how to restore state institutions in a way that will be acceptable to the world.
Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore is one of five regional leaders actively involved in the attempt to mediate to restore constitutional order after the March 21 coup.
Compaore and the other presidents have given the junta 72 hours to return power to civilians, which expires on Monday.