Pro-junta demonstration in Bamako yesterday.

The meeting of the Cédéao -Economic community of the West African Nations- scheduled in Bamako today has been cancelled reported the on-line version of the French news paper Le Point a short while ago. The delegates, who included Blaise Compaoré, the President of Burkina Faso as ‘mediator’, appear to have made U-turn mid air, when it became clear that the airport of Bamako had been invaded by pro-junta protesters.
And why would there be protests against this meeting?

Well, please bear with me while I digress for a moment. Has anyone been to Burkina Faso? If you venture that way, make sure you don’t speak the name Thomas Sankara too loudly. People around you will shuffle nervously and glance around….
In 1987 Blaise Compaoré seized power from his brother in arms Sankara who was assassinated. By whom? Well, ahem….
Since then Compaoré has ruled Burkina Faso. He has changed the constitution so that he can present himself forever at the ‘elections’.
This is the man chosen by the Cédéao to come and lecture Malians on the virtues of Civilian government and Democracy.
If I were Malian I too would join the anti Cédéao demonstrations!

Le Point reports furthermore that 'quasi the entire political class in Mali is against the junta.' Yes, you bet they are! They have everything to lose. The system which fed them has come to a halt. It is my firm conviction that no one from the ancient regime will be able to present themselves at any forthcoming elections. They are all, virtually without exception, known to be corrupt. A military contact of Keita told him this morning that 2 000 000 000 fcfa – an astronomical figure- as well as 40 vehicles had been seized in a field belonging to Modibo Sidibe, one of the forthcoming presidential candidates, who is now in jail. He had held government positions for two decades. The maximum salary for a state employé such as a minister is 300 000fcfa per month! Rudimentary mathematics show that he must have worked in the region of six hundred years to accumulate this wealth.

The world opinion is against the coup. But would ‘the World’ please take a look at what ‘democracy’ meant here? The ‘World’ believes that democracy is a magic word. But it is only a word that may have no connection to reality.

This is not a Coup, it is a Revolution. The French know all about revolutions, don't they?