International envoy Kofi Annan told the U.N. Security Council on Monday that Syria informed him its military will complete the withdrawal of troops and heavy weapons from populated areas by April 10.

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said Annan received a letter from Syria’s foreign minister on Sunday with the April 10 date and indicated he would have preferred an earlier deadline. She said Annan urged the Syrian government to start the withdrawal immediately and move no further into populated areas, and “that commitment was provided.”

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Heavy fighting between Somaliland troops and a tribal militia broke out early early Sunday morning in the village of Sool-Joogto in Buhodle region and in the outskirt of Tukaraq village where Somaliland forces are stationed.

The battle erupted after tribal militia loyal to Somalia’s former Prime Minister, Ali Khalif Galayr launched pre-dawn surprise assault on Somaliland military bases in the outskirts of Buhodle town and on the outskirt of Tukaraq Village.

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Tuareg separatist rebels in Mali say they have surrounded the historic town of Timbuktu after a rapid advance through the north of the country.

Eyewitnesses in the town told BBC they heard gunfire on the outskirts, believed to be the Malian army firing warning shots.

The rebels said on their website they meant to dislodge the Malian political and military presence in the town.

Two other important centres, Kidal and Gao, fell to them in recent days.

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Tuareg separatists launched attacks in the town of Gao in northern Mali on Saturday, taking advantage of the chaos left over by a 10-day old military coup.

Rebels arrived in the strategic garrison town in pick-up trucks loaded with arms. A reporter from the Reuters news agency described hearing heavy weapons fire. This new assault came after the rebels took Kidal, another key town in the north on Friday.

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Fresh clashes Thursday between rival Libyan tribes killed eight people, a hospital official said, even as authorities spoke of an imminent truce in the southern desert town of Sabha.

“The situation is very bad. At least eight bodies were brought to the hospital over the past three hours,” said a doctor at the Sabha hospital, Abdel Rahman Arish, reached by telephone.

He told AFP several people were also wounded in the fighting that has raged since Monday between the Toubou tribe and Arab tribesmen from Sabha.

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Syria has accepted a U.N.-sponsored peace plan, international envoy Koffi Annan said on Tuesday, even as troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad crossed into Lebanon to fight rebels who had taken refuge across the border.

Assad visited a rebel stronghold in the city of Homs that his forces had overrun after weeks of shelling and gunfire, apparently to make the point that he can now tour the streets of the once bitterly fought-over district.

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The Sudanese government on Monday announced that president Omer Hassan al-Bashir’s scheduled summit with his southern counterpart Salva Kiir on 3 April has been cancelled in wake of the most serious confrontation between the armies of the two neighbouring states on Monday, since partition in July last year.

On Monday Kiir claimed that the military escalation was provoked by Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) coordinated aerial attacks on Jau and Pan Akuach followed by a ground forces assault against another area called Teshwin.

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