Mali Mediator Sets Joint Meeting with Rebels, Government

Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore, west Africa's chief mediator for the crisis in Mali, will hold his first joint meeting Tuesday with delegations from the Malian government and armed groups Ansar Dine and the MNLA, his office said.

"The president will receive all the delegations together tomorrow at 4:00 pm (1600 GMT)," the presidency said Monday, after Compaore met representatives from Mali's transitional government.

Delegations from Ansar Dine (Defenders of the Faith), one of the Islamist groups that have seized Mali's north, and the MNLA (Azawad National Liberation Movement), a Tuareg rebel movement, are also in the Burkinabe capital for talks.