SUPPORT FOR MALI LEADER

THOUSANDS of supporters of Mali's leader Ibrahim Boubacar Keita marched through the capital Sunday, a day after opponents held a protest against his re-election in a disputed presidential run-off.

Demonstrators brandished banners reading ''Long live President IBK.'' ''We want peace'' and ''Mali is one and inseparable.''

''Mali belongs to all its sons, we need to avoid trouble,'' Aissa Traore, 35, told AFP.

Sunday's non-violent rally came two days ahead of Keita's inauguration for another five year term.

The opposition refused to accept the outcome of the August 12 run-off election that pitted Keita against former finance minister Soumaila Cisse, charging voter fraud.

But the Constitutional Court rejected Cisse's petition against the results as being inadmissable or unsupported by evidence.

''The Constitutional Court has issued its verdict, everyone has to respect it. That too is democracy, ''Idrissa Coulibaly of Mali's National Youth Council, one of the organisations behind Sundays  rally, told AFP.

Organizers said  ''tens of thousands'' of  Keita supporters had turned up, while police sources spoke of  ''thousands of people''.

Keita's  swearing-in today/Tuesday will be ''a great celebration,'' a young female demonstrator told AFP.

The president won last month's ballot with 67.16  percent of the vote, while Cisse polled  32.84 percent. [Agencies].