The United States has cut off aid to the Mali government after last week's coup that was carried out by soldiers, the State Department said Monday. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that military aid and other funds directed at the Mali government are now suspended, but the U.S. will continue to supply humanitarian and food assistance to the country's impoverished citizens. The U.S. provides roughly $140 million a year in assistance to the African country. Nuland said that over $60 million of that $140 million could be affected by the new policy. Nuland said that the U.S. is hoping that democratic governance can be restored in Mali, which would lead to the resumption of American assistance. Army mutineers claimed that they overthrew the government in response to its mishandling of an ethnic insurgency in northern Mali.
