Monday's deal paves the way for the setting up of a Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), an elected body for the Darjeeling hills.

BBC: Gorkha ethnic group in autonomy deal with India

The Seleka rebel coalition assaulted the towns of Alindao and Kouango in a direction toward the capital from Bambari, where they already seized control, said Josue Binoua, minister of decentralization and territorial administration.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

"We will organise the elections throughout the national territory in order to reunite the minds of Malians, reunite their hearts, and to enable Mali to remain one and indivisible, " Territorial Administration Minister Moussa Sinko Coulibaly told a news conference in the capital, Bamako, on Thursday.

BBC: Mali sets 7 July election date, says minister