200,000 people flee fighting in Mali

Some 200,000 people have fled fighting in Mali, where widespread looting in key northern towns have also forced the UN food agency to suspend its activities, UN

 agencies said on Tuesday.

"This 200,000 figure may rise," warned a World Food Programme spokeswoman.

"Malian refugees have been crossing into Burkina Faso and Mauritania at an average rate of 400 people per day in the past week," the UN refugee agency added.

About 107,000 people have also been displaced within Mali, where much of the north has fallen to Tuareg rebels since military rulers seized power in Bamako in a coup on March 22.

The World Food Programme said it has suspended its activities in the north's Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu and the central town of Mopti, amid widespread looting after insurgents captured the northern towns.

"WFP staff have been staying at home," said the UN food agency.

Rebels near central town of Mopti

Mali's Tuareg rebels, who have taken much of the north in a dramatic offensive, have been seen near the central town of Mopti and the army may be unable to stop their advance, a French minister said Tuesday.

"Today, taking into account what is known about the military situation on the ground, I don't see any geographic area where the Malian army would be likely to stop the rebels' advance," French Cooperation Minister Henri de Raincourt told Radio France International (RFI).

He said rebel movements had been spotted "around Mopti".

Asked by RFI if the rebels could take control of other central towns, Raincourt said, "there has been information indicating that there could be rebel movements approaching".

Witnesses told AFP that several hundred Mopti residents, including soldiers and their families, fled the town and its surrounding areas on Monday, fearing the approaching rebels.

The main Tuareg rebel group MNLA (Azawad National Liberation Movement) and Islamist groups have since Friday seized control of the north's three regional capitals, including Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu.

The French minister said the capital Bamako was "for the moment" not facing a threat of rebel takeover, but did not rule out the "possibility" that Al-Qaeda's north Africa branch could try to infiltrate the city.

Mali is sliding further into chaos under military rulers who on March 22 overthrew President Amadou Toumani over his handling of the Tuareg rebels' fight for an independent homeland.

Rebels holding north Mali ready to talk

A former minister identifying himself as the chief negotiator for Mali's junta says the main rebel group that seized the north of the country is willing to hold discussions on the future of the country.

Former Cabinet minister Mohamed Ag Erlaf said by telephone on Tuesday that the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad is open to discussions.

However, an NMLA spokesman in Paris told France 24 TV late Monday that the rebels have had no direct contact with the junta which toppled Mali's government March 21. Moussa Ag Attaher said they do not recognize coup leader Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo.

He said: ``Neither the international community nor the population of Mali recognize him. If we are to negotiate, it needs to be with someone that is recognised.''

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.