A UN mission formally took over from the African-led force in Mali—although most of the actual soldiers remain the same. France is to keep some 1,000 troops in the country.
A Malian government mission arrived in Kidal, stronghold of the separatist National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), days after the signing of a ceasefire.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in Niger that the attackers who carried out double suicide bombings on a military camp and uranium mine likely came from Libya.
Mali’s government and the MNLA, at odds over whether army troops will be allowed into the rebels’ northern stronghold for upcoming elections, will resume talks in Burkina Faso.
UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism Ben Emmerson warned that Burkina Faso is at risk of being destabilized by the conflict in neighboring Mali.
One year after Tuareg rebels briefly seized power in Mali’s desert north, they face hunger, ethnic attacks and rights abuses at the hands of French-backed government forces.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced a “permanent” military mission in Mali, and said Tuareg rebels must disarm and accept “confinement.”
Malian troops swept Timbuktu for remaining Islamist fighters after a battle that left seven dead and prompted France to send reinforcements and fighter jets.
Tuareg rebels called on the International Criminal Court to investigate what they called war crimes committed by Malian government forces during the current conflict.
Chad’s military announced that its forces in Mali killed renegade AQIM commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar in an assault on a “terrorist base” in the Adrar de Ifhogas mountains.
A supposed AQIM document found in Timbuktu criticizes jihadists for destroying Sufi shrines and alienating the local populace, calling for a more pragmatic Islamist state.
Specious charges that the Tuareg still practice slavery are being used by Mali’s regime—and echoed by the Western media—to justify the mounting wave of ethnic attacks.
