A delegation of West African leaders was prevented from landing in Mali after pro-junta demonstrators flooded the airport. The presidents were going to try and persuade Mali's junta leader to hand over the power he seized on March 21.

­For safety reasons, the delegation of the Economic Community of West African States – comprised of the Presidents of Ivory Coast, Benin, Liberia, Niger and Burkina Faso – turned around and landed in the capital of Ivory Coast, Abidjan.

Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo, the leader of the military coup in Mali, was waiting for the ECOWAS delegation in the airport. After the incident he expressed his hope that it will not become “an obstacle to finding a solution to the crisis.”