Mali junta leader Sanogo denies counter-coup rumors

(Reuters) – Mali coup leader Captain Amadou Sanogo said on state television on Saturday that he was well and in good health after rumors swirled around Bamako of an imminent counter-coup by loyalists soldiers and that he had been killed.

“Good evening, people of Mali, good evening comrades in arms, good evening citizens, I am Captain Sanogo and I am here in good health, all is well,” Sanogo said, before handing over to a spokesman who said all the Malian army was behind them.

Sanogo is the president of the National Committee for the Return of Democracy and the Restoration of the State (CNRDR), a body set up by mutinous soldiers who overthrew the government of President Amadou Toumani Toure on Wednesday.