ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, March 29 (UPI) -- With protests reported on a Malian runway, African leaders decided midflight to have talks on the military coup in nearby Ivory Coast, an Ivorian official said.
A delegation of leaders from the Economic Community of West African States opted to return to Abidjan for talks on Mali amid reports of protests by coup backers in Mali, sources in the Ivorian government told the BBC.
Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara had said the sustained democratic government shouldn't be abandoned. ECOWAS leaders have called for a reversal of a coup led by Malian Capt. Amadou Sango.
Coup leaders are said to have adopted a new constitution that keeps some democratic guarantees in place. It calls for eventual elections but would ban coup leaders from competing.
ECOWAS leaders, the BBC reports, are said to have peacekeepers on standby.
Sango's forces said there were frustrated with how deposed President Amadou Toumani Toure was dealing with an insurgency backed by Tuareg rebels in northern Mali.
Tuareg rebels fought alongside fighters loyal to former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and the simmering conflict rekindled ethnic tensions between northern and southern Malians.
