The day after an embargo was placed on Mali, the soldier who led a recent coup said that he agrees with restoring constitutional order, but first Mali’s ills need to be addressed by holding a national convention which will decide on the best way forward.

After seizing the strategic northern Mali towns of Kidal and Gao, Tuareg rebels today began besieging the ancient city of Timbuktu, taking their fight for a homeland for the nomadic people to the last major government holdout in the north.

The body representing nations in western Africa has suspended Mali and has put a peacekeeping force on standby in the most direct threat yet to the junta that seized control in a military coup last week.

Drunk soldiers looted Mali’s presidential palace hours after they declared a coup, suspending the constitution and dissolving the institutions of one of the few established democracies in this troubled corner of Africa.