Malian army officer Colonel Assimi Goita announced himself on Wednesday as the coup leader who overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. “Let me introduce myself, I am colonel Assimi Goita, chairman of the National Committee for the salvation of the People,” he said after meeting top civil servants. The colonel had appeared among a group of officers seen on television overnight Tuesday-Wednesday to announce the takeover, but did not speak. Coup chiefs meanwhile called on the public to return to normal life, warned against acts of “vandalism” and threatened to punish…