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France's Hollande to visit Mali on Saturday (not a 'surprise visit)
French President Francois Hollande, Foreign Minister Lauren Fabius and Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will visit Mali on Saturday, Hollande's office has announced.
Development Minister Pascal Canin will also make the trip, which follows a three-week military intervention in the former colony in which French forces have recaptured large areas of northern Mali from al-Qaeda-linked rebel fighters.
France's Liberation newspaper quoted unnamed sources saying Hollande also planned to visit the fabled desert city of Timbuktu, which French and Malian forces seized back from the rebels who had held the northern part of the former French colony since last year.
France has said that it wants to hand over responsibility to the Malian army and other African counterparts.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/02/201321112426841578.html
Seems like every time a US politician visits Iraq or Afghanistan it is a "surprise" visit that is not announced in advance. Either Hollande and his ministers are brave people or they don't think announcing the visit in advance represents a security threat to them.
