Mali coup leader: "The chance to start over"

On March 21, 2012, Mali's president was overthrown. Sanogo explains:"When things are going wrong in your country, you can't hide behind a newspaper or sit back with your cup of tea to avoid facing up to the truth. We've been hoping to first of all recapture enemy-occupied territory, then re-establish order there to guarantee safety for the Malian people - and finally, to provide a new impetus in a country where the economy, the justice system and the education system simply weren't working anymore. Nothing was working anymore; there was looting, fraud and social deterioration. And so we wanted to give the people new hope, so that things could move forward again."

Asked about the elections that are planned for July 2013, Sanogo said: "I won't be a candidate in the coming elections. That much is clear." He added: "We are independent, we aren't living according to anyone else's narrative. Regarding external criticism and talk about my stepping down, I think that such considerations are slowing progress."

In response to a question about what he has achieved since the military coup one year ago, Sanogo commented: "A state that has been broken for the last 20 years cannot be rebuilt in a single year. The current political system is working well. And what is more, the Malian people are beginning to understand what went wrong and to realise that this is the chance to start over."