France wants Mali UN force in place by April

France wants a United Nations peacekeeping force to be in place in Mali by April, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Wednesday.

"Once the security will assured, we can envisage without changing the structures that it can be placed under the framework of UN peacekeeping operations," the French top diplomat said.Full story

Meanwhile, a United Nations humanitarian official said Wednesday that UN and its humanitarian partners have had access back into central Mali and are looking for broader access throughout north Mali.

David Gressly, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator of Sahel with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told reporters that some 500,000 people in northern Mali that are food insecure need the assistance.

Paris (Xinhua)