Mali's opposition group calls for 'democratic' resolution

The opposition coalition in Mali is calling for dialogue to resolve a brewing crisis after gunfire was heard in an army base near the capital, Bamako.

"There’s no alternative but dialogue now... [we] are searching for a democratic solution and we hope the situation could be resolved in a legal and ordered way," Issa Kaou Djim, the spokesperson for the June 5 coalition, said.

Kati army base is the same place the 2012 mutiny, which resulted into a coup, is thought to have started.

The French, Norwegian and Swedish embassies have advised people to stay indoors.

Since June, tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets calling for President Ibrahim Boubakar Keïta to resign.

They blame him for the economic hardship in the country, corruption, and for failing to deal with the rising Islamist violence.