Mali President pledges to keep fighting terrorist groups

Mali will keep fighting “terrorist groups” in the country until they engage in serious peace talks, the country’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has said.
Despite continued French troop deployments, a UN peacekeeping mission comprising 11,000 soldiers and years of peace talks, Mali remains beset by political unrest and ethnic strife.
Keita said he will keep fighting as these groups remain not serious about stopping their attacks.
However, he said he is willing to extend the hand of friendship in an effort to have peace and prosperity for his people.
“While we are trying to have peace talks with them, they conduct these attacks against us,” said Keita.
Keita, Mali’s president since 2013, has indicated he would be running for a second term in 2018.