Lawmakers in Mali agreed Saturday to extend a state of emergency across the country by another eight months, officials told AFP, as fresh violence flared in the restive north-east.
MPs unanimously backed the extension - which has been renewed several times since last year - during an extraordinary session of the National Assembly, a parliamentary source said.
"I want to reassure that the state of emergency contributes to the stability of the country" and preserves security, interior minister Abdoulaye Idrissa Maiga told lawmakers.
Hundreds of government supporters marched through central Bamako on Saturday afternoon to support Mali's security forces and the peace process, according to an AFP photographer. Demonstrators waved Malian flags, placards and banners reading: "No development without peace," and "I love my country, I'm taking part."