A French soldier stands guard in an armoured vehicle as a helicopter carrying Army Chief of Staff General Bertrand Ract-Madoux leaves a position in the Terz valley, about 60 km south of the town of Tessalit in northern Mali. France has deployed some 4,000 troops to Mali, alongside a regional African force, in a nine-week operation that has driven Islamists into desert hideaways and mountains near the Algerian border. Reuters/Francois Rihouay