Thousands protest in Mali anti-govt rally

BAMAKO: Tens of thousands of people rallied in Mali´s capital Bamako on Friday to demand the resignation of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, heeding the call of the country´s newly resurgent opposition.

The 75-year-old president is under pressure over failures to contain a jihadist insurgency that emerged in northern Mali in 2012 and spread to the fragile centre of the West African state. Thousands of soldiers and civilians have died, and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes. But the sclerotic pace of political reforms, a flagging economy and a widely shared perception of government corruption have also fed anti-Keita sentiment.