Thousands of people in Mali's northern city of Gao have staged a protest, accusing France of favouring their rivals from the ethnic Tuareg group, reports the BBC.
The protesters said Paris was colluding in the continuing occupation by the Tuareg of the regional capital Kidal.
The separatist rebels say they will not allow the Malian authorities into Kidal to hold elections planned for July.
France led a military operation that ousted Islamist insurgents from northern Mali earlier this year.
Paris began withdrawing some of its 4,000 troops from the country in April and plans to gradually hand over to the Malian army and a UN peacekeeping force before the elections.
Organisers of Thursday's protest said that up to 3,000 took part in the rally - although officials said the number was significantly less.
The protest was staged by a coalition of the region's powerful civilian militia groups, who voiced their anger of being excluded from talks to bring peace to the north.
The coalition pointed out that the Tuareg, on the other hand, had been invited to the talks in Burkina Faso.
Read more of this report from the BBC.