US issues travel warning after Mali coup

The United States on Saturday warned US citizens against traveling to Mali due to current "instability" after a military coup in the West African country. "The situation on the ground remains fluid and unpredictable," cautioned the State Department in the travel warning, saying "law and order is not assured" in the wake of the unrest. The State Department warned its citizens "against all travel to Mali at this time because of current political instability." The warning came after renegade soldiers proclaimed Thursday they had ousted President Amadou Toumani Toure in a coup, taking over the presidential palace and closing the country's borders. New warnings were coupled with "continuing threats of attacks and kidnappings of Westerners" in the country's restive north. The mutineers staged the coup over how the military was being trained and equipped to deal with a Tuareg rebellion in the north. The resulting power vacuum however opened the way for those rebels to deepen their hold, with one group Saturday saying it was on the verge of seizing the key city of Kidal. Washington on Friday that around $70 million in US military and economic aid to Mali was at risk if the forces failed to restore democratic rule in the country.