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 Moroccan military court handed prison sentences, including eight life terms, to a group of 24 accused of killing members of the security forces in occupied Western Sahara in 2010.
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.
Thousands massed in Tunis for the funeral of slain opposition leader Chokri Belaid, with the city shut down in a general strike called by the main union federation, the UGTT.
The International Criminal Court ordered Libyan officials to hand over Abdullah Senussi, former intelligence chief for Moammar Qaddafi, and allow him to meet with his lawyer.
Tunisia’s Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali announced that he will dissolve the Islamist-led administration and form a new “technocrat government” as protests rock the country.
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.
