REUTERS - The United Nations called on rebels in northern Mali on Wednesday to halt their offensive, shortly after they seized the strategic border town of Tinzawatene and forced government troops to withdraw into Algeria.

The fighting in the remote northeastern town followed a three-week desert advance by a Tuareg-led rebel force, helped by Malians returning from the Libyan conflict, which has forced nearly 60,000 civilians to flee their homes.

"The Secretary-General condemns the use of violence as a means to achieve political objectives," a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement.