Mali: Ecowas Agrees on Military Plan

By Staff Writer

BAMAKO--West African leaders have agreed during weekend’s regional summit to deploy troops to Mali, to recapture the country’s northern region held by Islamist militants who want it declared independent.

The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) Summit held emergency meeting on Sunday in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, to firm up a blueprint for military force in northern Mali region, as demanded by the UN Security Council.

The plan, which also involves potential training of 5,000 Malian troops, would first need endorsement by the African Union before being presented to the UN Security Council by end of this month for review.

About 3,300 troops as agreed in the discussions will be pulled from the 15 states members of Ecowas, mainly from Nigeria, Niger and Burkina Faso, with a possibility also from other non-member countries, within the next one year.

"We foresee 3,300 soldiers for a timeframe of one year," Ecowas Chairman and Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara told journalists on Sunday after the meeting. "We have countries that are offering battalions, others companies."

Ouattara said he hopes the UN endorsement could come in by late November or early December to allow deployment of forces in days afterwards.

The Ecowas strategy was drawn up with help of experts from the African Union, European Union, and the UN. foreign and defence ministers from five European countries -- France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain -- are set to meet next Thursday to discuss a European mission to train Malian troops.

A statement by the regional development bloc said though dialogue remained the preferred option, force might be needed to break up the networks controlling Mali which "pose a threat to international peace and security".

Islamist groups and Tuareg rebels seized control of the northern region after Mali's president was overthrown in March, raising fears of the risks extremists pose in the region and beyond.

The secular separatists have since been sidelined by the Islamists, who had little interest in their aspirations for independence of the region which they refer to as state of Azawad, and set about imposing their version of strict sharia law.

Ahead of the Ecowas move, last week Ansar Dine, one of the Islamist groups, in the north called for dialogue to end the fighting, after holding talks with the chief regional mediator in the Malian crisis.