Mali braced for possible sanctions on Monday after its military rulers pledged to start returning power to civilians but no concrete moves were taken.
?It was not clear if neighbours would lift threats of isolation.
A 72-hour deadline, set by West African bloc ECOWAS, for soldiers to start returning to barracks expired as northern separatist rebels said they had completed a lightning push south, seizing three regional capitals in as many days as Mali's army units retreated.
The coup, a month before President Amadou Toumani Toure was due to step down for elections, has shattered the international reputation of stability and democracy that the country previously enjoyed.
The push by rebels, whose ranks were swelled by fighters returning from Libya's conflict, has also deepened insecurity across the Sahara-Sahel band, already awash with Islamists, traffickers and bandits.
Amadou Sanogo, an army captain who led a March 21 coup, on Sunday pledged to reinstate the constitution and all state institutions before holding an election.
ECOWAS, which has threatened the closure of trade borders, diplomatic isolation and a freeze in funding from the regional central bank, did not officially react to the move.
Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara, who heads ECOWAS, said he spoke to Mali's junta chief on Sunday to thank him for a pledge to restore constitutional order but did not say if the sanction threat remained in place.
“We will work with other leaders as soon as possible, without delay so that this return to constitutional rule will be done,” Ouattara said.
West African leaders are due to meet in Dakar on Monday, and will discuss Mali on the sidelines of the swearing-in of Senegal's new president, Macky Sall, officials said.
The threat of sanctions underlines how seriously Mali's neighbours take a coup which they fear could trigger similar attempts in countries which have been blighted by decades of civil war and power grabs.
Sanogo cited Toure's poor handling of the rebellion, which has seen soldiers lack the equipment, ammunition and food in remote zones, as the main reason for the coup.
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