Malian coup leader Amadou Sanogo has denounced looting by soldiers and police officers but denies his men are responsible.
Speaking on national television late Friday, Sanogo blamed "ill-intentioned" people trying to undermine support for the military takeover.
"I deplore the acts of vandalism and pillaging which have occurred," he said. "Yesterday, I obtained concrete proof that ill-intentioned individuals were wearing uniforms of the police, the army, in order to break this coup, just to turn the population, to turn opinion against us. Once again, I ask that you excuse us for all the aggravation caused and, once appropriate, justice will be done, chances will be made. And here, once more, I urge all Malians, all Malians, at whatever level, to stop without delay these acts of vandalism and pillaging. Whether wearing a uniform or at whatever level, stop the vandalism and pillaging. These are neither our mission, nor our cause, nor our objective."
Soldiers Wednesday took control of Mali's presidential palace, after expressing anger at President Amadou Toumani Toure's handling of an ethnic Tuareg rebellion in the north.
The takeover came just five weeks before Mali was set to choose President Toure's successor in an election.
After unrest Friday, the Tuareg rebels pressed with an offensive aimed at taking more government territory.
A leader of the rebel MNLA told VOA's French to Africa Service the group wants to regain control of what it considers Tuareg land, regardless of who governs in Bamako.
He says, in the view of the rebels, the problem is not with a specific government, but with what he calls the occupation of the country.
The coup has been widely condemned from the international community as well as from some within Mali.
A group of prominent politicians in Mali Friday issued a statement calling the take-over a "serious step backwards" for Mali and demanding an immediate return to the constitutional order.
The AU suspended Mali's membership Friday, while United States and European Union also condemned the coup, and the EU and World Bank both suspended development aid to the West African nation.
The United States warned Friday it could suspend its non-humanitarian assistance to Mali if democracy is not restored.
The African Union has said President Toure is safe at an undisclosed location near the capita, Bamako, and is being protected by loyalists.
Coup leader Sanogo said Friday the military will step down once a new democratically elected president is in place, but he said it may take some time. He said President Toure would not be harmed, but declined to discuss the president's whereabouts.
Well-armed Tuareg separatists started attacking army bases in Mali's desert in January after many Tuareg fighters returned from Libya.
The U.N. refugee agency says the conflict has uprooted more than 190,000 people in and around Mali. Many soldiers have died in the conflict.
Tuareg nomads have launched periodic uprisings for greater autonomy in Mali and Niger.
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