Mali's president resigns, neighbours discuss north

Mali's President Amadou Toumani Toure resigned on Sunday, paving the way for the soldiers who ousted him in a coup to stick by a deal to restore civilian rule and hand power to the president of the National Assembly.

Neighbouring states meeting to discuss turmoil in Mali's north, a major reason for the military's ousting of Toure, differed over whether to crush the northern rebels, a mix of Tuareg separatists and Islamists with links to al Qaeda, or talk to them.

The twin crises - a coup in the capital that led to rebel seizure of the north - have threatened Mali's previous reputation for democracy and widened a security void that countries fear will exacerbate regional instability, terrorism and smuggling.

"We have just received the formal letter of resignation from President Amadou Toumani Toure," said Djibril Bassole, Burkina Faso's foreign minister, a leading mediator for West Africa's ECOWAS bloc.

"We will now contact the competent authorities so that the vacancy of the presidency would be established and so that they take the appropriate measures," Bassole added after Toure met mediators in an upmarket villa in central Bamako.