French president to visit Mali French president François Hollande will on Saturday visit Mali, where his country's military units have forced Islamist insurgents to retreat from key towns in the past week. According to the Elysée palace, Mr Hollande will fly into Bamako to meet interim President Dioncounda Traore before visiting Timbuktu, recently recaptured from Islamist groups by French and Malian troops. Mr Hollande will also be accompanied on his trip by Jean-Yves le Drian, his defence minister. Laurent Fabius, France's foreign minister, said in Paris on Friday that French forces were "advancing positively" against the rebels in the west African nation's desert north. He said African troops will take over from their French counterparts, who are not expected to stay in Mali permanently. After a difficult start to the three-week campaign, including the death of a French pilot on the first day, Mr Hollande has received a boost in opinion polls in recent days after his intervention in Mali. The president's perceived lack of authority and leadership at a time when France is struggling with serious domestic economic problems at home has made him unpopular at home. But a BVA poll this week showed his approval rating had jumped to 44 per cent in January from 40 per cent in December, largely because of his decisiveness in Mali. Nevertheless, French polls have also indicated that the public has little appetite for a longer Mali engagement to seek to wipe out the Islamist threat, particularly if French troops started to suffer casualties. About 2,000 African soldiers, mainly from Chad and Niger, are on the ground so far in Mali. France has sent about 3,500 French soldiers, backed by warplanes, helicopters and armoured vehicles. On Thursday, French forces were halted by a sandstorm at the airport on the edge of the predominantly Tuareg town of Kidal in northwestern Mali.