Tuareg rebellions

Mali's warring factions on June 18 looked close to signing a landmark peace deal to end years of unrest after pro-government militia leaders agreed to evacuate a flashpoint town and the government dropped arrest warrants for several rebels.

A Dutch UN helicopter crashed on Tuesday in northern Mali near the city of Gao, killing two people.

The cause of the crash remains unclear and so far there have been comments neither from the Dutch defence ministry nor from the UN peacekeeping mission, the BBC reports.