BAMAKO: West African heads of state will meet in Abuja on Sunday to adopt a plan for their troops to recapture northern Mali from rebels, the grouping said in a statement yesterday. Once approved by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders, the strategy “will then be transmitted through the African Union, before Nov. 15, to the UN Security Council.”
The Security Council on Oct. 12 approved a resolution urging ECOWAS to speed up preparations for a military intervention to help recapture northern Mali. It gave ECOWAS until Nov. 26 to clarify its plans.
ECOWAS army chiefs on Tuesday adopted the military blueprint, which was drawn up with the help of experts from the Europeon Union, AU, UN and the region,
The details of the plan have not been made public, but delegates say over 4,000 troops could be sent into Mali, whose vast arid north has been occupied by Al Qaeda-linked militants for seven months.
The UN wants clarification on the composition of the proposed force, the level of participation from the various west African nations, the financing of the operation and the military means to carry it out.
The ECOWAS statement said the bloc’s military brass has asked for a planning committee to be set up to “refine the harmonized plan” and organize a donors conference.
This committee will be charged with “identifying the shortfalls as soon as possible and proposing the types and number of units” which will make up the force.
The crisis has displaced about 200,000 Malians inside the country, while as many have fled to neighboring states, according to the UN.
Facing a potentially violent ouster, militants have sent envoys to Ouagadougou and Algiers for negotiations and this week called for all armed movements to halt hostilities and join in dialogue, while rejecting “all forms of terrorism”.
The militants’ ties with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) which has long been present in Mali’s north, has triggered fears in the region and the west that the zone could become a haven for radicals.
Militants’ spokesman Mohamed Ag Aharid on Wednesday warned in Ouagadougou that any military intervention in Mali would “set the region ablaze.”
West African bloc to hold Mali summit
