France plans to start Mali pullout in MarchFebruary 6, 2013 - 09:41 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - France plans to begin pulling troops out of Mali from March and will focus its operations on flushing out Islamist rebels in the north of the country, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Tuesday, Feb 5, according to Reuters. "We will continue to act in the north where some terrorist havens remain," he said in an interview for Wednesday's Metro newspaper. "I think that from March, if everything goes according to plan, the number of French troops should fall." France has deployed nearly 4,000 ground troops, as well as warplanes and armoured vehicles in its three-week-old Operation Serval that has broken the Islamist militants' 10-month grip on northern towns. It is now due to gradually hand over to a UN-backed African force of some 8,000 troops, known as AFISMA, of which around 3,800 have already been deployed. Paris and its allies want to prevent the Islamists from using Mali's desert north as a base to launch attacks on neighboring African countries and the West. "The narco-terrorist groups have been stooped thanks to our strikes," Fabius said. “But there can still be individual acts. We have to stay on our guard." Top stories Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Moscow on April 22 to hold talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". Partner news | Concept to complete Yerevan Cascade discussed at city hall A conceptual proposal to complete the Cascade complex in downtown Yerevan has been presented by Jean-Michel Wilmotte. Pashinyan visits flood-hit region Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Saturday, June 8 visited the disaster area in the Lori province. €3.5 mln EU grant to support justice reforms in Armenia The European Union has paid €3.5 mln grant to Armenia within a €11mln program on Support to Justice Reforms. Yerevan reacts to Baku’s proposal to see Minsk Group abolition Alen Simonyan has declared that Armenia is taking steps aimed at concluding a peace treaty with Azerbaijan. |