The UN Security Council on Sunday condemned "in the strongest terms" an attack on a military vehicle in Mali, in which one Chadian UN peacekeeper was killed and four others injured.
The UN Security Council on Wednesday strongly condemned a suicide attack on a checkpoint of the UN mission in Mali in which a number of peacekeepers have been killed.
The head of a 50-member electoral observation mission in Mali sent by the African union (AU) has called on Malians to turn out "massively" in Sunday's presidential run-off.
Large-scale military operations in Mali "are coming to an end," Malian Prime Minister Diango Cissoko said here Tuesday.
Australia would provide 10 million (almost 10.4 million U.S.dollars) in assistance to Mali to support peace, security and humanitarian needs, Foreign Minister Bob Carr and Defense Minister Stephen Smith announced in a joint statement on Wednesday.
UN deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey on Tuesday said that the UN refugee agency "is readying itself to assist in the possible spontaneous return of thousands of conflict-displaced people in the north of Mali."
French President Francois Hollande said on Monday France and its African partners are winning the battle against Islamist rebels in northern Mali.
The Malian army, supported by its French allies, entered the town of Douentza early on Monday morning, a military source told Xinhua on the same day.
France-backed war against rebel forces in Mali continues on Thursday in the northern region of the West African nation as more supporting troops are arriving from the regional bloc.
Al-Qaida-linked rebels in northern Mali are facing increasing pressure after days of bombardment by French war planes and with more troops to be deployed on the ground to help the government army.
The latest round of military clashes over the weekend between the Malian army and radical Islamist groups have sparked a new wave of displacement and led to a worsening of the humanitarian situation in the West African country, the United Nations warned on Tuesday.
An estimated 30,000 people may have been displaced due to the eruption of fighting between the Mali government and the rebel group, Ansar Dine, in central and northern parts of the country last week, the United Nations said here Monday.
The French air force on Sunday extended strike further north to Gao, one of the three major towns controlled by rebels in northern Mali, according to reports from local residents and official sources in Paris.