The presidents of four African countries were flying to Mali Thursday when their flight was turned around, but it's not clear why they had second thoughts. But it's not hard not to speculate, the Associated Press' Rukmini Callimachi reports, since the leaders were headed to Bamako to negotiate with the junta that ousted Mali's president last week.

An adviser to Ivory Coast's president couldn't say why the plane was turned around, Callimachi reports. He was traveling with the heads of Benin, Niger, and Burkina Faso to meet Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo; the West African alliance ECOWAS is threatening military action if Sanogo doesn't step down. The deposed president, Amadou Toumani Touré, was missing for a while, and spoke for the first time Wednesday, saying he was free and unharmed.

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Elspeth Reeve