Image
© REUTERS/Joe PenneyMalian soldiers drive on the streets of the capital Bamako, January 12 2013. ECOWAS will begin sending soldiers to Mali by Monday as part of a mission to drive al Qaeda-linked fighters from the country's north, an Ivory Coast government official said on Saturday.
France's military intervention against Islamist fighters in northern Mali will put French citizens at risk, a spokesman for insurgent group Ansar Dine said on Saturday.

"There are consequences, not only for French hostages, but also for all French citizens wherever they find themselves in the Muslim world," Sanda Ould Boumama told Reuters. "We are going to continue resisting and defend ourselves. We are ready to die fighting."