Some 100 US troops have been mobilized to Niger to establish a drone base, while across the border in northern Mali French-led forces face growing jihadist resistance.
A document found in a demolished building in Timbuktu purports to reveal plans by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb to establish "command and control" over northern Mali.
Tension remains high in Gao after a pitched battle over the weekend as French troops beat back an attempt by MUJAO fighters to retake the remote northern Malian city.
Troops from Chad have been sent in to take Kidal, the town in northern Mali that remains under the control of Tuareg separatist rebels, as France seeks to avoid confrontation.
With French forces carrying out air-strikes in preparation for an advance on Kidal, it remains unclear if the remote town is under the control of jihadists or Tuareg separatists.
Amid music and celebration in northern Mali since a French-led advance swept the jihadists from power, come growing reports of Tuareg and Arab residents forced to flee in reprisals.
The US military is preparing to establish a drone base in Niger along the eastern border of Mali, where French forces are currently waging a campaign against jihadist rebels.
International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda warned the Malian government over reports of human rights abuses by Malian forces in the drive to re-take the north.
Jihadist forces upon fleeing Timbuktu for the desert torched the Ahmed Baba Institute—a library housing a priceless collection of centuries-old Islamic manuscripts.
In a mission slated to last two weeks, US Air Force C-17 transport planes are ferrying troops and material from France to Mali for the offensive against jihadist rebels.
Malian security forces have killed civilians, targeting ethnic groups associated with rebels in the north, particularly Tuaregs and Arabs, Human Rights Watch charges.
Algerian military forces attacked the Amenas gas complex in the interior Sahara, where a breakaway faction of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb took dozens of hostages.
