Nigeria 'to withdraw some troops from Mali'
Nigerian troops have been deployed in Mali for some months
Nigeria is planning to withdraw some of its 1,200 soldiers from the UN peacekeeping force in Mali, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara has said.
Mr Ouattara, head of the regional group Ecowas, said the troops were needed at home to tackle militant Islamists.
It is not yet clear how many Nigerian troops will stay in Mali, where an election is due to be held on 28 July.
The Nigerians are part of a force of 6,000 African troops who took over from a French-led mission on 1 July.
French and West African troops drove militant Islamists out of northern Mali in February.
The UN force - known by its French acronym Minusma - is now working with the Malian army to provide security for the election. It is due to be expanded to 11,200 troops, plus 1,400 police, by the end of the year.
President Ouattara, speaking at a summit of West African nations in the Nigerian capital Abuja, said the withdrawal was "because of the domestic situation in Nigeria".
"They are not withdrawing everyone. A good part of the troops are going to be there," he said.
The BBC's Alex Duval Smith in Bamako says a full battalion of Nigerian soldiers - 850 men - will be withdrawing after the elections, which could go to a second round on 11 August.
Once they have gone, the Nigerian contribution will be limited to 140 police, some staff officers and a field hospital based near the northern town of Timbuktu, she says.
The Nigerian withdrawal will be a blow for the new UN force, our correspondent says.
An unnamed military source told the AFP news agency that the move was partly in protest after a non-Nigerian was named to head Minusma.
"Nigeria feels shabbily treated... we think we can make better use of those people at home than to keep them where they are not appreciated," the source said.
Nigerian soldiers are also being pulled out of the joint UN-African Union mission in Sudan's Darfur region, according to Reuters news agency.
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