France's Francois Hollande to visit Mali

France's President Francois Hollande is to visit Mali, where three weeks of targeted French air strikes have forced Islamist militants to retreat.

Mr Hollande will fly into Bamako to meet interim President Dioncounda Traore, his office says.

He is set to visit Timbuktu, recently seized from Islamist rebels by French and Malian troops, on Saturday.

The French military intervention has recaptured large parts of northern Mali from Islamist groups.

French troops are currently securing Kidal, the last major town which was occupied by militants who had controlled much of the northern part of the former French colony since a coup last year.

Mr Hollande will be joined on his trip by Foreign Minister Lauren Fabius, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Development Minister Pascal Canin.

The president's objective is to prepare to hand over the towns the French-led troops have captured to an African force that has begun to deploy to Mali, and create enough stability to facilitate new elections by July.

So far about 2,000 African soldiers, mainly from Chad and Niger, are on the ground in Mali.

On Thursday, French military spokesman Col Thierry Burkhard said a column of 1,400 troops from Chad was heading towards Kidal from the Niger border.