The 4,000 French soldiers deployed in Mali to fight Islamist rebels will be reduced to 1,000 by the end of the year, French President Francois Hollande said Thursday. "We will start withdrawing at the end of April," he said in an interview with France 2 television. "In July, there will be no more than 2,000 soldiers in Mali. At the end of the year, there will only be 1,000 troops."

The UN Security Council on Thursday unanimously approved the first-ever "offensive" UN peacekeeping brigade to battle rebels groups in Democratic Republic of Congo. A council resolution gave the force of more than 2,500 troops orders to "neutralize" and "disarm" armed groups in the resource-rich east of the huge country, which has been gripped by conflict for more than two decades. The intervention brigade and surveillance drones to monitor the DR Congo's borders with neighbors accused of backing the rebels will be operating by July, according to UN officials.

The United Nations has sent extra armored personnel carriers and ambulances to its mission in the Golan Heights because of the growing fallout from the Syrian war, a spokeswoman said Wednesday. The announcement of the extra equipment for the force monitoring a ceasefire between Israel and Syria was made as the UN Security Council expressed concern at the growing dangers for the peacekeepers.

Up to 11,200 troops could be needed for a UN peacekeeping mission in Mali but a "parallel" military force will have to battle radical Islamists, UN leader Ban Ki-Moon said Tuesday. The 11,200 troops could only cover main towns "assessed to be at highest risk," Ban said in a grim report on conditions in Mali that the UN Security Council will discuss Wednesday.