20120813
Press TV
Nearly 60,000 Muslims have gathered for a massive peace rally in Mali, a country that has been hit hard by violence since earlier this year when a coup toppled President Amadou Toumani Touré.



Sunday’s demonstration for “national peace and reconciliation” in the capital Bamako was organized by the country's top Muslim body and several key politicians, including Prime Minister Cheikh Modibo Diarra, attended the event, AFP reported.

Addressing the crowd, head of Mali's High Islamic Council Mahmoud Dicko said, “Let us pray for Mali, let us pray for peace.”

Dicko has recently held meetings with top members of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) and Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith), which captured key northern cities after the coup d’état in Bamako in March.


In January, Tuareg fighters in the north of the country revolted against Bamako demanding an independent homeland, which quickly influenced the West African nation's armed forces.

On March 22, renegade Malian soldiers led by Amadou Haya Sanogo toppled President Touré, and took control of government institutions.

The coup leaders said they mounted the coup out of anger at the government's inability to contain the two-month-old Tuareg rebellion in the north of the country.


However, in the wake of the coup d’état, the Tuareg rebels took control of the entire northern desert region, but the Islamic groups pushed them aside and wrested control of all northern desert regions, which are larger than France or Texas.