Mali

PARIS - France will move surveillance drones to West Africa and is holding secretive talks with U.S. officials in Paris this week as it seeks to steer international military action to help Mali's feeble government win back the northern part of the country from al-Qaeda-linked rebels, the Associated Press has learned. France and the United Nations insist any invasion of Mali's north must be led by African troops. But France, which has six hostages in Mali and has citizens who have joined al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, is playing an increasing role behind the scenes.

WASHINGTON - The top U.S. military commander in Africa warned Monday against any premature military action in Mali, even as he said that al-Qaeda-linked extremists have strengthened their hold on the northern part of the country. Army Gen. Carter Ham said that any military intervention done now would likely fail and would set the precarious situation there back "even farther than they are today. " The African Union and United Nations are currently discussing the funding, troops, and other assistance necessary to take back northern Mali from the extremists who took control earlier this year.

BAMAKO, Mali - The junior officer who overthrew Mali's democratically elected leader last month and dissolved the nation's constitution made a public U-turn on Sunday, declaring amid enormous international pressure that he was reinstating the 1992 constitution and planning to hold elections. Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo added that he would organize a national convention to agree on a transitional government that would organize free and fair elections. What he did not make clear was when the convention would be held, or when elections would take place, or whether he would remain president during the transitional period.

A World Cup qualifier at Mali was stopped yesterday when fans rioted following a go-ahead goal by Togo in the 90th minute. Fans blocked a main road in Bamako with flaming tires and smashed car windows after they invaded the field. Police fired tear gas as protesters descended on the capital's main African Unity Avenue and screamed about the play of Mali's top players. "Give us Frederic Kanoute and Mamadou Bakayoko!" they demanded. "We're going to kill them!" Kanoute plays for Tottenham Hotspur in England and Bakayoko for Nantes in France.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - A plan to turn Mali into a stable democracy rather than a terrorist haven drew massive support Wednesday as various nations and international groups pledged $4.22 billion to help reconstruct the West African nation. The objective of the donors' conference in Brussels had been to raise $2.6 billion to support a $5.6 billion plan drafted by Malian officials aimed at helping what many observers view as a failed state reemerge as a stable, secure democracy. By Wednesday evening, the pledges made far exceeded that goal.

BAMAKO, Mali - France launched air strikes Friday to help the government of Mali defeat al-Qaeda-linked militants who captured more ground this week, dramatically raising the stakes in the battle for this vast desert nation. French President Francois Hollande said the "terrorist groups, drug traffickers, and extremists" in northern Mali "show a brutality that threatens us all. " He vowed that the operation would last "as long as necessary. " France said it was taking the action in Mali at the request of President Dioncounda Traore, who declared a state of emergency because of the militants' advance.

The United States will deepen its involvement in France's fight against Islamist militants in Mali by conducting aerial refueling missions, Pentagon spokesman George Little said. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta pledged the increased support for France in a phone call with French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, Little said in a statement Sunday The United States has already been providing France with intelligence gathering and an airlift that has delivered hundreds of troops and hundreds of tons of supplies for the Mali operation, Little said.

Timbuktu, for most Americans, has been one of those exotic names one might hear in an old movie, or see on the pages of some night-stand novel conjuring dreamy images of a faraway, mystical place. But Timbuktu is real, and so is the war in which that region of the West African nation of Mali is embroiled. It is a conflict rooted in the war on terror in which the United States, appropriately, is taking a lesser role - having quit Iraq, and likely accelerating its withdrawal from Afghanistan.

BAMAKO, Mali - Mali's U.S.-trained coup leader said Saturday that he was in control of the country, had no fears of a countercoup, and wanted peace talks with the rebels whose northern rebellion was the trigger that led him to oust a democratically elected president. Capt. Amadou Sanogo, who appeared exhausted, his voice hoarse, stressed the importance of unity for the West African nation in an exclusive interview with the Associated Press at Kati garrison outside Bamako, the capital.

At a shout, a dozen tiny bare feet fly upward toward black belt Lou Giamo in a martial-arts studio in Eagleville. "Right foot first. No, that's your left foot," Giamo tells 3- to 5-year-olds there to learn tae kwon do. "We have some left-and-right issues here," he privately concedes. But this summer, Giamo, 45, a master and instructor of tae kwon do - the art of fighting with foot and fist - swaps the local stage for the international. With three other trainers, he will fly to Mali to help that West African nation field a tae kwon do team sharp enough to qualify for the 2008 Olympics.