Junta agrees to relinquish power

EDIT CONTAINS 4:3 MATERIAL

A military junta who took over Mail said they will hand over power to the civilian government to avoid sanctions threatened by neighbouring countries.

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Mali state television announced on Friday that the leader of Mali's coup, Captain Amadou Sanogo and (ECOWAS) - the Economic Community of West African States - have agreed to a plan under which the coup leaders will hand over power to the civilian government.

The foreign minister of neighbouring Burkina Faso described the agreement.

(SOUNDBITE) (French) DJIBRIL BASSOLE, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS FOR BURKINA FASO, SAYING:

"We have reached an agreement that will allow in the hours and days ahead to put together institutions envisaged in the constitution that will function on a regular basis."

On the same day, a group of rebels in northern Mali declared the region independent from the south in a state they renamed Azawad.

Those rebels have dreamed of secession from the south since Mali's independence from France in 1960 but have had little foreign support.

Julie Noce, Reuters