Rabat, Morocco (PANA) - Member countries of the Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) have said "the resolution of the crisis in Mali must be comprehensive and should not be limited to military operation," the Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mohamed Abdel Aziz, has said. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) – Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday called on French president François Hollande in Paris with their talks focusing on the situation in Mali, according to a French presidency communiqué issued in Paris.Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) – France has circulated a draft resolution at the United Nations to transform the African-led International Support Mission to Mali (AFISMA) into a UN mission for the Stabilization of Mali, the French foreign ministry said on Tuesday.Full text...

Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) - The Italian government is to provide food aid worth 200,000 euros to Malian refugees at the M’Beri camp in East Mauritania, sources at the World Food Programme (WFP) office in Mauritania disclosed on Friday. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) Mali’s interim president, Dioncounda Traore, has appointed the first three officials of the country’s dialogue and reconciliation commission, which was recommended by the international community. Full text...

Niamey, Niger (PANA) – Niger's president, Issoufou Mahamadou, has had discussions with the French army chief of staff, Admiral Edouard Guillaud, on the military operation to liberate northern Mali from Islamists which seized it one year ago, the Niger News Agency (ANP) reported on Friday.Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Chairman of ECOWAS Committee of Chief of Defence Staff (CCDS), Gen. Soumaila Babayoko, has called for intensified and sustained international support to rid Mali of terrorism and criminality which are threatening not only the country but the region and the rest of the world. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) – The World Food Programme (WFP) will this year give food assistance to more than a million Malians through an emergency operation for people affected by the conflict in the north of the country.Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) – The Malian government is considering the setting up of a dialogue and reconciliation commission (DRC) to seek reconciliation in the country, official sources told PANA on Thursday.Full text...

Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire (PANA) - Some 70 per cent of troops pledged to the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) have been deployed in the country through the efforts and solidarity of the troops contributing countries, the Foreign Minister of Côte d'Ivoire, Mr Charles Koffi Diby, said on Monday. Full text...

Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire (PANA) – Ivorian minister of foreign affairs, Charles Koffi Diby, says increasing the number of troops of the International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) is the top priority to guard against all eventualities.Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - French military planes, involved in the fight against Islamist groups in northern Mali, made more than 970 sorties and over 170 strikes in the continuing operation "Serval", according to a communiqué issued by the General staff of the French army which was received by PANA here Tuesday.Full text...

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) - The Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Didier Reynders, Monday indicated that Belgium will participate in the training of Malian soldiers, under a programme designed by the European Training and Counselling Mission (EUTM). Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - Hundreds of Malians displaced by the recent unrest in their country that forced them out of their homes say they want to go back as soon as the security situation improves and they get the means to trek their way back, a study by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday. Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - To ensure that Islamist extremists being routed from northern Mali do not enter Libyan territories, Tripoli has started wide consultations with neighbours - Tunisia, Algeria, Mali, Chad and Niger, according to the Libyan Prime Minister, Ali Zeidan. Full text...

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) – Mali's Foreign Affairs minister, Hubert Tieman Coulibally, said on Tuesday that his country's was not against the transformation of the African military mission supporting Mali (AFISMA) into a UN peacekeeping operation. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) – The President of France, Francois Hollande, arrived in Mali on Saturday to visit soldiers he sent to the West African country a few weeks ago to fight rebels.Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) – Congolese opposition party, the Pan-African Union for Social Democracy (UPADS), on Friday denounced what it called “Africa’s weak participation” in resolving the Malian crisis. Full text...

Lome, Togo (PANA) – Another contingent of 54 soldiers has left Togo for Mali, official sources told PANA here Thursday. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) – The Malian Parliament on Tuesday adopted a roadmap to speed up the political transition in the country as French and Malian forces are pushing to secure Northern cities freshly recaptured. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) – The President of the International Association of Francophone Mayors (AIMF), Bertrand Delanoë, Tuesday hailed the liberation of the cities of Gao and Timbuktu by the Franco-Malian forces, saying the victory was a great relief. Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) – The Libyan ambassador to the United Nations, Tarek Mitri, on Tuesday expressed fears that the current war in Northern Mali would have a negative impact in East Libya, given the strong ethnic and ideological relations between the militants groups in Mali and Libya. Full text...

Rabat, Morocco (PANA) – Morocco Tuesday pledged US$ 5 million to the funding efforts of the Mali International Support Mission (MISMA), under the leadership of the African Union (AU), the Morocco News Agency (MAP) reported here. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) – Burkinabe president, Blaise Compaoré, declared on Monday in Addis Ababa that he is prepared to receive dissidents of the armed Islamist group, Ansare Dine, operating in northern Mali. Full text...

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) – Belgium has sent a 40-strong military contingent to Mali to support the France-led efforts in the war against Islamist rebels in northern Mali, PANA reported Monday, quoting an official Belgian government communique. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - Political dialogue among all elements involved in the current crisis in Mali is the only important key to reaching durable peace in the West African country, President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso said here Monday. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - The Malian government has asked the country's military to respect human rights and comply with all the provisions of international humanitarian law as it battles to reclaim the northern part of the country from armed Islamist groups. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - Burundi and Chad are among the African countries that have offered to send troops to join the Africa-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA), the African Union (AU) said Thursday. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - Around 7,000 Malians have arrived in refugee camps in the country's neighbouring countries since the 11 Jan. 2013 launch of the French military operation, aimed curtailing the advance of the north-based armed Islamist groups towards the south, according to an OXFAM official. Full text...

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) - The European Union will on 5 February organize a meeting on Mali aimed at strengthening international coordination on the political, security and reconstruction components of the situation in the West African country that is battling jihadists who have seized large swathes of the north. Full text...

Lomé, Togo (PANA) – The second contingent of 96 Togolese soldiers left Lomé on Tuesday by road to Bamako as part of the peacekeeping force of the International Mission to Support Mali (MISMA), official sources told PANA. Full text...

Niamey, Niger (PANA) - Niger's president, Mahamadou Issoufou, on Tuesday exhorted Niger's soldiers heading to Mali to accomplish their mission with professionalism. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) – An official of the international charity, OXFAM, on Tuesday called for the opening of a humanitarian corridor between Niger and northern Mali to supply relief items to areas that have been occupied by islamist groups for more than nine months. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - The Malian government has extended by three months the state of emergency which it announced 12 January, following the escalation of the crisis in the country. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - A donors' conference to raise US$240 million for the African-led International Support Mission for Mali (AFISMA) will be held on 29 July in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - Mali’s national parliament has strongly condemned the violation of human rights in the country's north, and in some towns located in the regions of Mopti and Segou, by the armed Islamist groups who seized the north last year. Full text...

Moroni, Comoros (PANA) - The Union of Comoros has expressed ''full and total support'' to the French government and the African states that have sent troops to assist the Malian army to battle armed Islamist rebels in the West African country, the Comoran government said in a statement made available to PANA Monday in Moroni. Full text...

Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (PANA) - ECOWAS Commission President Désiré Ouedraogo has said Mali's caretaker President Dioncounda Traoré remains the only authority in the country that is recognised by the sub-regional body. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) – The French foreign affairs minister, Laurent Fabius, will represent his country at the summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) planned for Saturday in the Ivorian city of Abidjan, according to a statement in Paris.Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Two Dassault-Breguet Dornier Alpha fighter jets took off Friday from the Nigerian capital Abuja to assume duty as part of the first deployment of the Nigerian air component contingent in Mali, PANA reported from here.Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) – Mali’s caretaker president, Dioncounda Traore, is expected in the Ivorian economic capital, Abidjan, where he will attend Saturday's extraordinary summit of ECOWAS heads of state on the current situation in Mali, official sources told PANA here Friday. Full text...

Lome, Togo (PANA) - Some 100 soldiers, from a contingent of 732 pledged by Togo, have left for Bamako to join the International Support Mission in Mali (MISMA), PANA learnt from official sources here Friday.Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - The announcement earlier in the week that the International Criminal Court (ICC) will open an investigation into crimes under international law committed over the past year in Mali is a crucial step towards justice for the victims, Amnesty International (AI) said.Full text...

Cotonou, Benin (PANA) – The 300 soldiers, pledged by the Beninese government to assist in the war in Mali, left for Bamako on Friday, official sources told PANA here. Full text...

Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (PANA) – Leaders in the West African sub-region will on Saturday, 19 January hold an extraordinary summit in the Ivorian city of Abidjan to take additional measures aimed at solving the Malian crisis following the seizure of the north by Islamists.Full text...

Bamako, Mali (PANA) - The city of Diabali, in central Mali, which was attacked on Monday by armed islamist groups, is still under the control of the rebels, the Malian News Agency (AMAP) told PANA on Thursday. Full text...

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) – The terrorist groups which have attacked Mali will be defeated, the Malian foreign affairs minister, Tieman Hubert Coulibaly, declared in Brussels on Thursday. Full text...

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) - The extraordinary council of ministers of foreign affairs of the European Union (EU) has appointed French General François Lecointre as commander of the European Military Command in Mali (EUTM). Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - Ghana's President John Dramani Mahama will attend the emergency summit of the Economic Community of West African Sates (ECOWAS) scheduled for the main Ivorian city of Abidjan to discuss the crisis in Mali. Full text...

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan will leave for Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, Friday to attend an Extraordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, ahead of the full deployment of the community’s troops to Mali.Full text...