President Keita warned that Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the wanted jihadist leader who is said to have set up operations in Libya, constitutes a threat to peace in the region. Keita also said Mali is willing to enter reconciliation talks with rebel groups such as the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) so long as there is “total and unequivocal preservation of our territorial integrity.” A French soldier was slightly wounded when a his vehicle encountered a roadside bomb in Tessalit on April 12. A Chadian military official in Kidal said al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has laid a number of mines in the area.
