UNSC proposes foreign troops be sent to Mali
12 Jan 2013 6:40 AM IST
The UN Security Council called for foreign troops to be quickly sent to Mali on Friday to contain a new offensive by radical Islamists who control the north of the country and are vowing to capture more terrain.
The fresh fighting in Mali has re-ignited Western fears that the al-Qaeda-linked militants who currently control an area the size of France could capture even more territory and turn it into the same type of sanctuary that Afghanistan was under the Taliban. Diplomats at the UN in New York said Mali's interim president Dioncounda Traore had appealed for help to Paris and UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
‘It basically said: 'help - France',’ US ambassador Susan Rice told reporters in describing Traore's letter.
French President Francois Hollande was expected to make a statement on the request during a meeting with the diplomatic corps in Paris at 1000 GMT.
Following an emergency meeting on Mali, the Security Council called for a ‘rapid deployment’ of an agreed African force to the country and expressed ‘grave concern’ at the capture of the town of Konna by ‘terrorists and extremists groups.’
The fresh fighting in Mali has re-ignited Western fears that the al-Qaeda-linked militants who currently control an area the size of France could capture even more territory and turn it into the same type of sanctuary that Afghanistan was under the Taliban. Diplomats at the UN in New York said Mali's interim president Dioncounda Traore had appealed for help to Paris and UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
‘It basically said: 'help - France',’ US ambassador Susan Rice told reporters in describing Traore's letter.
French President Francois Hollande was expected to make a statement on the request during a meeting with the diplomatic corps in Paris at 1000 GMT.
Following an emergency meeting on Mali, the Security Council called for a ‘rapid deployment’ of an agreed African force to the country and expressed ‘grave concern’ at the capture of the town of Konna by ‘terrorists and extremists groups.’
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