President Amadou Toumani Toure

The north African branch of Al-Qaeda is demanding seven million dollars and the release of several of its members in return for three Spanish hostages held in Mali, a report said Thursday. According to the El Mundo newspaper, the Spanish government was aware of the demands and the Mali President Amadou Toumani Toure was playing "fundamental role in negotiations." However, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told AFP he would not comment on the report. The Spanish aid volunteers, two men and a woman, were kidnapped on November 29 in Mauritania when they were in the last vehicle of a convoy carrying supplies for ... Read Full Story

At the foot of a hill on the southern edge of the Sahara, hundreds of Malian troops are practising their shooting skills, spattering the cardboard targets with bullets. "Good! Good!" the US military officers shout in encouragement, telling them they're proud of the effort the soldiers are putting in. Welcome to northern Mali, where the inhospitable terrain has become one of the shifting frontlines in the war on terror. The desert region, vast and difficult to monitor, is an important point of passage for militant groups and arms traffickers. The Bamako government is battling Al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), regarded as Al-Qaeda's branch ... Read Full Story

The burntout wreck of a Boeing 727 lies abandoned in the Sahara desert, what is left of it covered by a little more ochre sand every day. UN officials say the plane landed in the remote northeastern area of Mali in West Africa in early November with a load of cocaine and other illegal goods from Venezuela in South America. Coming in on a makeshift runway, it unloaded its cargo and was then destroyed. The UN's Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) first announced it had crashed and caught fire after takeoff. Investigators said later that it had been set alight, probably by the ... Read Full Story

Malian musician Rokia Traore has set up a foundation in Bamako to help young artists and sound engineers and to promote "the establishment of a cultural industry in west Africa," she has announced. "I'm launching a project, my foundation, to contribute to west African culture in general," said Traore, 35, who was speaking on Wednesday night in Dakar. She is to give concerts in Senegal on Friday and Saturday. Her fourth album, "Tchamantche", came out last year and was nominated for a top prize in France's Victoires de la Musique awards. Traore has already won a coveted BBC3 World Music Award for her 2003 ... Read Full Story

Mali has opened a judicial inquiry into a burnt-out Boeing plane that the UN says transported cocaine from Venezuela to the west African country, a government statement said on Saturday. "Following the discovery of the wreckage of a suspect plane in the Cercle de Bourem (area of Mali) on November 2 and after a preliminary inquiry, a judicial investigation has been opened," the justice ministry said. International police organisation Interpol will participate in the probe, it said. A Malian source familiar with the case told AFP that the investigation would soon result in suspects being charged and that it had caused concern "to many ... Read Full Story