BAMAKO  (AFP) – The man tapped to oversee Mali’s return to democratic rule held talks Sunday on the West African country’s future with putschists and politicians, 17 days after an internationally condemned military coup.

Dioncounda Traore, who is to be interim president, was quick to praise the junta’s decision to return the country to democracy in a sanctions-lifting deal brokered by the West African bloc ECOWAS.

But underscoring the many challenges facing Traore, Al-Qaeda-linked Islamists claimed responsibility for the April 5 kidnapping of seven Algerian diplomats from the Algerian consulate Gao in northern Mali.

As the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) said they had kidnapped the Algerian consul and his team, Traore met with diplomats, junta leaders and politicians in the Malian capital Bamako.

A spokesman claiming to be from MUJAO told AFP the group would be “making its demands known”.

Traore was also scheduled to meet with coup leader Captain Amadou Sanogo, but the meeting appeared to have been postponed.

Sanogo and his band of low-ranking soldiers agreed Friday to a timetable for a return to constitutional rule after the March 22 overthrow of President Amadou Toumani Toure, a chaotic power grab that sparked international condemnation.

Since the coup, the country has been split in two, with the north now in the hands of Tuareg and Islamist rebels.

Traore, who flew into Mali from Burkina Faso Saturday, said the country needs the army to recover the whole of its territory, though he did not elaborate on when this might be.

Under the agreement, Traore, who is now speaker of parliament, will take over as interim president and rule with a transitional government until elections are held.

The accord states Traore should organise a presidential election within 40 days, though given the “exceptional circumstances”, this may be delayed.

Mediator Djibril Bassole, Burkina Faso’s foreign minister, said Toure, who has not been seen since he was ousted in the coup, should be able to live where he wants under army protection. Coup leaders will also be granted amnesty in the power deal.

As a result of the agreement, ECOWAS, which had imposed a total embargo on Mali, a country of 15 million people, said Sunday all sanctions would be lifted immediately.

Mali’s neighbours Mauritania, Algeria and Niger called for the immediate transfer of power to the interim government.

Morocco also said it would send 14 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Niger, already facing a food shortage as it struggles with drought to cope with an influx of Malian refugees.

According to the United Nations, more than 200,000 people have fled their homes in Mali since January, seeking refuge elsewhere in the nation or in neighbouring countries.

Amnesty International has warned of a major humanitarian disaster in the region.

Though coup leaders justified their action by accusing Toure of incompetence in his handling the rebellion in northern Mali, the coup backfired and sparked the biggest crisis in the country’s history.

Some observers have dubbed the action an “accidental coup” after rebels exploited the power vacuum and swept Mali’s north.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged quick implementation of the transitional accord, and in his Easter Sunday address, Pope Benedict XVI on called for peace and stability in the country.

“The secretary-general urges the junta to ensure the safety and security of all Malian officials, to immediately and unconditionally release all detainees and to refrain from any actions that might undermine the effective implementation of the provisions of the framework agreement,” a Ban spokesman said.

The three northern towns of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu were overrun by Tuareg rebels and Islamist armed fighters last week, putting the vast, desert-cloaked half the country under their control. Residents of some towns have reported systematic looting, rapes and the implementation of sharia Islamic law in places.