news agency

"No one was prepared for this," Jose Cervantes, owner of a coffee shop in one of the affected areas, told Reuters news agency.

"Initially, I thought the lower part of my body had been severed," one 30-year-old who was at the gathering told news agency Reuters.

Li stressed that "maintaining, consolidating and developing the traditional friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries is China's unwavering policy," according to China's state news agency Xinhua.

"My business is dying," a vendor in the central town of Mopti told the AFP news agency about her problems keeping fish refrigerated.

Social sites have been intermittently accessible on smartphones, according to news agency AFP.