The current head of the African Union, Benin President Thomas Boni Yayi, sent a letter on Thursday expressing frustration over the slow progress in mobilising an international force to retake northern Mali. "Any reticence about a military intervention would be interpreted as a weakness and give fighters allied to al Qaeda time to take more territory," the letter said, according to an excerpt provided by Benin's presidency. Ansar Dine, an Islamist group linked to al Qaeda, moved into a town near Mali's border with Mauritania on Thursday after separatist Tuareg rebels withdrew without a fight. http://www.brecorder.com/world/europe/93125-france-wants-mali-un-resolution-by-dec-20.html