site.news_by_theme Mali

France has bombed an Islamist rebel hideout in northern Mali's largest city, intensifying a security lock-down against guerrilla attacks as the French-led campaign entered its second month.

• 12 февраля 2013, 13:48

Islamist gunmen attacked the largest city in northern Mali on Sunday following two straight days of suicide bombings, intensifying their insurgency on territory reclaimed by French-led forces.

• 11 февраля 2013, 18:15

UN leader Ban Ki-moon said Thursday he is worried by a guerrilla fightback in Mali and that no firm decision has been made to send a peacekeeping force there.

• 08 февраля 2013, 19:06

French-led forces have killed hundreds of militants in fighting to reclaim northern Mali and with the rebels' last bastion secured, France said Tuesday it will begin withdrawing troops in March.

• 06 февраля 2013, 15:49

French fighter jets have pounded Islamist supply bases in northern Mali seeking to flush the insurgents out of hiding, as France and the US on Monday called for African troops to quickly take over the operation.

• 05 февраля 2013, 14:00

Timbuktu has been part of three empires, survived invasions and had countless rulers, and it met its 10-month occupation by Islamist extremists with the stoicism of a city that has seen centuries of history.

• 04 февраля 2013, 11:24

Mali's interim president ruled out talks with Islamist groups who ruled the north for nine months, but said he was ready to meet Tuareg activists from the region.

• 01 февраля 2013, 11:10

"They are not Muslims, they are bandits!" raged Mohamed Elher Ag Abba, whose house flanks a famed archive in Timbuktu where retreating Islamists burnt priceless ancient books and manuscripts before fleeing.

• 31 января 2013, 16:59

French troops were at the gates of the last major city in northern Mali still outside their control early Wednesday after their forces landed at the airport in Kidal.

• 31 января 2013, 16:11

French and Malian forces were patrolling Mali's fabled desert city of Timbuktu on Tuesday, after a hero's welcome following their lightning advance north.

• 30 января 2013, 14:10

An international donor conference to drum up funds and troops to help the military operation against Islamist militants in Mali opened on Tuesday at the African Union headquarters in Ethiopia's capital.

• 30 января 2013, 10:24

French-led troops were closing in on Mali's fabled desert city of Timbuktu after capturing a string of other towns in their offensive against Islamists in the north of the country.

• 28 января 2013, 16:29

Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Australia have all urged their citizens to leave the Libyan city of Benghazi due to a "specific, imminent threat to Westerners", linked to French action in Mali.

• 27 января 2013, 12:17

French warplanes have destroyed two Islamist bases in northern Mali as an Al-Qaeda-linked group there split, with the splinter group calling for talks to end the offensive against the militants.

• 26 января 2013, 11:28

In pledging 2,000 desert-trained soldiers to fight Islamic extremists in Mali, Chad's President Idriss Deby looks set to carve out a role as a force for regional stability.

• 24 января 2013, 13:15

For the many Malians who have fled to Burkina Faso in recent days, facing life in a refugee camp won out over the horrors of war, after already suffering through occupation by hardline Islamist rebels.

• 22 января 2013, 19:13

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Sunday the end goal of France's military action in Mali was to retake control of the whole country from Islamist militants who have seized the north.

• 22 января 2013, 14:47

An Al-Qaeda linked group which shocked the world with its audacious hostage attack in Algeria threatened on Sunday to stage strikes on nations involved in chasing out Islamists from neighbouring Mali.

• 21 января 2013, 17:49

The French offensive in Mali will burden a defence budget that was expected to get relief from the withdrawal of French forces from Afghanistan.

• 21 января 2013, 10:23

The White House and the US Defense Department are at odds over the danger posed by radical Islamic groups that have taken control of parts of Mali and are stirring up trouble in other parts of West Africa.

• 20 января 2013, 11:30