But in Bamako, many Malians see little change. Life still flows onward, like the eternal Niger river that rolls through their capital.
“I challenge you to find a single thing that’s different, apart from the curfew,” Abdoulaye Sidibe, who runs a small shop, said with a laugh.
Little stores like Sidibe’s are myriad in Bamako. They sell everything, from eggs and bread and soda to tiny amounts of rice, drawn from 50-kilogramme (110-pound) sacks.
In the district of Torokorobougou, Children pass through the streets to buy the food for the evening meal, and elderly retired men sip tea and discuss politics. A mobile tailor passes by on a bicycle, snapping his scissors to declare his services for anyone needing a quick patch or hem.
The August 18 coup came after waves of protests demanding the resignation of 75-year-old President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, floundering in a sea of problems from jihadist bloodshed to a sinking economy.
Since then, his supporters have kept a low profile and the June 5 Movement, which clamoured for his downfall, has promised to “work” with the junta for the return of civilian rule.
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