BAMAKO, Mali, May 25 (UPI) -- France began the first stage of a withdrawal from Mali Saturday in what it says is a plan to pull out most of its troops and equipment by the end of the year.
A convoy carrying unneeded equipment and vehicles left a French base outside the capital, Bamako, headed for Abidjan in Ivory Coast, the BBC reported.
Tanks and most heavy patrol vehicles remain in northern Mali, where a coalition of French and Malian troops has been fighting al-Qaida forces since January.
Some of France's 4,000 troops began leaving the country in April. The Malian army will gradually assume the fighting duties and a United Nations peacekeeping force of 11,200 soldiers and 1,440 police officers will arrive in July just ahead of nationwide elections.
About 3,000 French troops remain in Mali, but that number is expected to drop to 1,000 by the end of the year.
French troops, aided by aerial assaults, pushed militants out of major cities and into more remote areas of the country. However, many of the extremists regrouped in neighboring countries, such as an area in southwestern Libya about 1,000 miles from Mali, The Wall Street Journal reported.
On Thursday, militants carried out twin attacks in Niger on a military barracks in Agadez and a French-owned uranium mine 100 miles away. At least 19 soldiers and a civilian died.
