Timbuktu

French president Hollande visits Mali to cheers of support

French President Francois Hollande was cheered thousands of people of this embattled city on Saturday, making a triumphant stop six days after French forces parachuted into Timbuktu to liberate the fabled city from the radical Islamists occupying it.

Mali operation a success, says France defence minister

But Le Drian told France Inter radio that doesn't mean that the military risks and combat are finished. He says the French don't intend to stay but "this isn't the time to disengage."

Fleeing Islamists leave trail of destruction in Timbuktu

Islamist rebels on the run have left destroyed several landmarks in Timbuktu.

Rebels torch library as French, Malian troops take control of Timbuktu

The United States and European Union are backing a French-led intervention in Mali aimed at removing the threat of radical Islamist jihadists.

Forces secure access to Timbuktu, says France

The move marked the latest inroad by the two-week-old French mission to oust radical Islamists from the northern half of Mali, which they seized more than nine months ago.

Malians celebrate as French troops near Timbuktu

The weekend gains made at Gao and Timbuktu by the French and Malian troops capped a two-week whirlwind intervention by France in its former Sahel colony, which has driven al Qaeda-allied militant fighters northwards into the desert and mountains.

Timbuktu: from city of myth to rebel stronghold in Mali

When turban-swathed Tuareg rebels swept into Timbuktu on Sunday to plant the flag of their northern Mali homeland, they found very few tourists in the bars, hotels, museums, mosques and libraries of the fabled and ancient Saharan trading town.