The state of emergency in Mali, which has been in effect since January 12, has been extended for another three months in the entire territory of the country in order, as explained, to complete the military operations for the liberation of the occupied territories.
The decision to extend the state of emergency was made yesterday at an extraordinary ministerial council, reports the Italian agency Ansa. In the announcement from this council, it is said that the state of emergency is intended to "seduce and maintain social peace" in the entire country.
In Mali, government forces, with the help of France, are fighting Islamic extremists who have taken over some parts of the country.
The Malian army patrols in the town of Diabali
The Malian army patrols today in the town of Diabali, a day after French soldiers took over that town from the Islamists in the west of the country.
The French army captured Diabali, which fell into the hands of the rebels on January 14, and the city of Duenza, in the central part of Mali.
The Islamist fighters left Diabali after several days of airstrikes by the French army, which since the beginning of the intervention in Mali managed to prevent the advance of the Islamists to the south.
The General Staff of the Malian Army estimated that it will not take more than a month to liberate the bastions of Islamists in the north of the country, in the cities of Gao and Timbuktu, and that the goal of the Malian army is to completely liberate that region from Islamists.
Gao (1.200 km from Bamako) and Tombuktu (900 km from Bamako) are cities in the vast north of Mali that have been under Islamist control for more than nine months.
French President Francois Hollande authorized airstrikes in Mali in early January as Islamists, who control the north of the country, launched an offensive southward and captured the city of Kona.
The European Union (EU) proposed to organize an international conference on Mali in Brussels on February 5, with the participation of the United Nations, the African Union and the Economic Community of West African Countries.
Almost 150.000 people have fled Mali to neighboring countries, and the number of displaced persons due to the conflict in that country is about 230.000, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs announced last Sunday.
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