ARTICLES RELATING TO
TUAREGS
Tuareg separatist rebels who held a chuck of Mali’s vast north and still occupy the key town of Kidal are ready for talks to end the west African country’s crisis, President Dioncounda Traore says.
Dozens of French forces have left the northern Malian town of Timbuktu several months after their military operation largely ousted radical Islamic fighters from the area, a French military official says.
Some Malians are already questioning how successful the UN peacekeeping mission to their country will be, given its limited mandate and the volatile mix of armed groups across the north.
The UN is expected to approve a new peacekeeping force for Mali to help restore democracy and stabilise the northern half of the country.
Arab militants have captured a village near Mali's city of Timbuktu, sources say, as ethnic Tuareg rebels massed in a show of strength near another key northern city.
Aid operations to help 457 000 people who have fled their homes in war-torn Mali are facing a massive funding shortfall, the UN’s refugee agency says.
Mali's PM has promised that elections would go ahead in July despite fears his government is failing to reassert its control in the war-torn northern part of the country.
Mali's acting Prime Minister Diango Cissoko has arrived in the north-eastern city of Gao for the first visit there by a head of government since it was overrun by Tuareg rebels more than a year ago.
Thousands of refugees from war-torn Mali have crossed into neighbouring Niger amid fears of reprisals by the country's military who are battling Islamist fighters, the UN says.
The UN has expressed concern over continuing violence against ethnic Tuaregs and Arabs in Mali, citing evidence of new rights abuses against the two communities.
An investigation by a rights group has found evidence that Mali’s military tortured seven men accused of links with al-Qaeda group that occupied the country’s north last year.
The UN leader Ban Ki-Moon says up to 11 200 troops could be needed for a peacekeeping mission in Mali but that a “parallel” military force would have to battle radical Islamists.
France says its troops are involved in “very violent fighting” in the mountains of northern Mali and it’s too early to talk about a quick pullout from the West African country.
Russia has revealed that it is supplying guns to Mali's government, as French troops defused a massive bomb in the north of the country, the latest bid by Islamist rebels to strike back.
Mali risks descending into "catastrophic" violence, the UN rights chief has warned, as tensions swept the country after a string of attacks by Islamic rebels on French-led forces.
