West African leaders ended a day-long summit in Bamako on Thursday without a consensus on how to alleviate Mali's political troubles. The meeting came as a French soldier was reported killed during an anti-terrorist operation in the east of the country, reports RFI.
Five of the region's leaders met Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and leaders of a protest movement clamouring for his resignation, as a long-running jihadist insurgency threatens to throw the country into chaos.
But the intervention failed to seal a deal and Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou -- at the talks along with the leaders of Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria -- said Western African bloc ECOWAS would hold a summit on Monday.
"Nothing has moved for the movement," said one of the protest leaders, imam Mahmoud Dicko, after holding talks with the presidents.
The June 5 Movement, named after the date when the protests began, has tapped into deep anger over Keita's perceived failure to tackle the dire economy, corruption and the eight-year jihadist revolt.
Malians are also incensed at the disputed outcome of long-delayed parliamentary elections in March and April that handed victory to Keita's party.
This comes as a French soldier was killed in the country on Thursday morning during combat operations against militants around 150km to the west of the city of Gao.