Keep A Prayer for a Free Autonomous Mali in your Heart



Malians wave to a French military helicopter near Bourem, Mali, on February 17, 2013.

(AP Photo/Pascal Guyot)

Children gather at the door of Mohamed Salia's madrassa in Gao, on February 18, 2013.

Nearly a month after the al-Qaeda-linked militants

were driven out of Gao and into the surrounding villages, students

are now returning to the city's Quranic schools.

Many classrooms, though, are still half full,  as tens of thousands

of people fled the fighting and strict Islamic rule imposed by the extremists.

(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)