Mali soldiers who forced Keita to quit give address

The Malian soldiers who forced President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to resign in a coup said on Wednesday that "social and political tension has undermined the proper functioning of the country for quite a while".

In a statement carried overnight on state broadcaster ORTM, the mutinous soldiers behind Tuesday's military coup identified themselves as the National Committee for the Salvation of the People led by Colonel-Major Ismael Wagué.

Wagué added: "Real democracy doesn't go with complacency, nor weakness of the state authority which must guarantee freedom and security of the people."

The news of Keita’s departure was met with jubilation by anti-government demonstrators and alarm by former colonial ruler France, and other allies and foreign nations.

The UN Security Council scheduled a closed meeting Wednesday afternoon to discuss the unfolding situation in Mali, where the UN has a 15,600-strong peacekeeping mission.

Keita, who was democratically elected in a 2013 landslide and re-elected five years later, still had three years left in his term. But his popularity had plummeted, and demonstrators began taking to the streets calling for his ouster in June.