West Africa envoys go to Mali to meet with junta after coup

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — A high-level delegation from the West African economic bloc was in the capital of Mali to meet with the military leaders and the president who was overthrown this week. The international community has expressed alarm about the coup d’etat, which deposed Mali’s democratically elected leader who still had three years left in his term. Mali has been fighting against Islamic extremists with heavy international support for more than seven years, and jihadists have previously use power vacuums in Mali to expand their territory. ECOWAS has suspended Mali’s membership and called for the mobilization of a regional standby force. But thousands of people in Mali took to the streets on Friday, celebrating the coup.