Americas

Americas

UN chief slams mutiny in Mali

22 March 2012 21:02 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday strongly condemned the mutiny in Mali, in which the government was overthrown, and called on "those responsible to refrain from any actions that could increase violence and further destabilize the country", APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"The secretary-general strongly condemns the rebellion by elements of the Malian armed forces who have announced the dissolution of government institutions and the suspension of the Constitution," said a statement issued here by Ban’s spokesman.

"He calls on those responsible to refrain from any actions that could increase violence and further destabilize the country," the statement said.

"The secretary-general calls for the immediate restoration of constitutional rule in Mali," the statement said. "The United Nations is ready to engage with all relevant stakeholders, including the leaders in the sub-region and ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) toward this end, so as to preserve the democratic gains made by Mali over the past two decades."