French President Francois Hollande will fly to Mali on Friday, Feb 1 night to meet the West African country's interim president in the capital Bamako the next day, Reuters reported citing France's Liberation newspaper.

Quoting unnamed sources, it said Hollande also planned to visit the fabled desert city of Timbuktu, which French and Malian forces seized back from Islamist rebels who had held the northern part of the former French colony since last year.