French and Malian forces are patrolling Timbuktu after retaking the desert city and receiving a heroes' welcome from locals.
But Timbuktu's mayor Halley Ousmane has denounced what he called "a crime against culture" as fleeing Islamists torched a UNESCO world heritage building housing ancient manuscripts.
With the recapture of Timbuktu, only one Islamist stronghold remains to be retaken: the town of Kidal in the desert hills of the far north, 1500km northeast of the capital Bamako, AFP reports.
Mr Ousmane confirmed accounts of the fire at the Ahmed Baba Centre for Documentation and Research. The centre was set up in 1973 and housed 60,000 to 100,000 manuscripts from the ancient Muslim world and Greece.
Timbuktu was for centuries a cosmopolitan city and a centre of Islamic learning.
Monday's advance into Timbuktu came 18 days after the French launched their offensive to wrest the vast desert north from the Islamists with the support of Malian troops.
France has 2900 soldiers in the former colony. Nearly 8000 troops from Chad and the west African bloc ECOWAS are expected to take over from them, but their deployment has been slow.
The African-led force will require a budget of $US460 million, the African Union said, promising to contribute $US50 million.
A spokesperson for British Prime Minister David Cameron said London was keen to contribute more than the two transport planes and a surveillance aircraft it has already provided.
British media reports on Tuesday suggested up to 200 troops might be involved: about 40 in Mali as part of a European Union mission to train Malian soldiers, the rest training a regional intervention force in neighbouring countries.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday Japan announced it would give an extra $US120 million to help stabilise Africa's Sahel region, days after 10 Japanese nationals were killed in the Algerian hostage siege.
The announcement came just hours before a donor conference for the Mali mission was due to start in Ethiopia.
On Monday, the International Monetary Fund agreed to provide an $US18.4 million emergency loan to Mali.
