United States condemns Mali coup, Mali rebels say preparing new advance

Mutinous Malian soldiers have closed all the borders of the West African country hours after declaring they seized power, a spokesman for the group announced on state television.    

"We declare all land and air borders with neighboring countries closed," Lieutenant Amadou Konare, spokesman for the newly-formed National Committee for the Return of Democracy and the Restoration of the State (CNRDR), said.    

It was not immediately possible to verify if the mutiny had sufficient support to ensure the closure of all borders to a land-locked country twice the size of France.

Earlier, a Reuters correspondent said the airport in the capital Bamako had been sealed off by police rather than renegade soldiers.

On another note, Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour reassured that the Lebanese diaspora in Mali is fine and that no Lebanese nationals were harmed in the latest turmoil witnessed in the Northwest African country.

Mansour contacted concerned officials in Mali early Thursday afternoon to check on the status of Lebanese expatriates there.  

Reuters/LBCI