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Africa North
Expanded military force in Mali plotted
2012-11-11
ABUJA: African nations on Friday plotted a military force to retake rebel-occupied northern Mali as ministers met on a strategy that included a possible expanded mission of 5,500 troops.
How much is Uncle Sugar going to have to kick in?
The proposal discussed by foreign and defense ministers from the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States could see the bloc commit 3,200 troops and other countries a further 2,300, said a source familiar with the talks.

Representatives from South Africa, Mauritania, Morocco, Libya, Algeria and Chad would also be invited to participate in a regional summit on the military strategy set for today in the Nigerian capital Abuja, the source said.
With all these meetings the intervention should take place in about ... oh, 2015 or so...
“ECOWAS defense chiefs have proposed a change in the composition of the troops to be deployed,” the source from the bloc said. “They are recommending to the summit 5,500 troops as against the initial proposition of 3,200 by ECOWAS. The difference is expected to be contributed by non-ECOWAS states which have signified interest to contribute troops.”

The ministers’ meeting ended late Friday after adopting a report ahead of Sunday’s summit. A portion of the report seen by an AFP journalist stressed that talks were the preferred means to resolve the crisis, but warned “dialogue was not open-ended.”
It spoke of a “leading role” for Mali in military and diplomatic efforts as well as “the leadership role of ECOWAS in the deployment of an African-led international force”.
The leader of a Malian militia meanwhile said that local people were ready to rise up against the rebels.

“The local population is ready to go to war against these people because they’ve finally understood that they’re not dealing with terrorists,” Seydou Cisse, the leader of the Ganda-Iso self-protection militia in northern Mali, told AFP from Niger’s capital Niamey.

Cisse, whose militia was defeated by the militants when they seized control of the region, said he was in “advanced talks” with authorities in Niger and Mali for his troops to take part in a military intervention.

“We have 2,000 young hard boyz men assembled in Mopti (central Mali) and ready to fight. The sons of the territory must liberate their area,” he said, calling war “inevitable”.

The military plan discussed at the meeting in Abuja on Friday would eventually be sent for approval at the UN Security Council, which on Oct. 12 set a 45-day timeframe for ECOWAS to come up with a blueprint for intervention. It would be delivered through the African UnionÂ’s Peace and Security Council.

At the same time, attempts at dialogue are ongoing to resolve the Mali crisis,
Preferably with everyone keeping their cash...
which analysts have warned poses potential problems to other countries in West Africa at risk of violence from militants.

“The urgent need to halt the mafia and criminal practices of terrorist groups and the atrocities committed with impunity by the extremists requires a strong mobilization on behalf of Mali,” ECOWAS Commission President Kadre Desire Ouedraogo said at the opening of Friday’s talks.

He said ECOWAS should pursue a dual approach of dialogue and military pressure allowing it to “stand by Mali... and help her regain her territorial integrity (and) dismantle terrorist networks.”
Posted by:Steve White

#2  I suspect you will once again see US and European air operations, including the close air support kind.
Posted by: Pappy   2012-11-11 16:17  

#1  How much is Uncle Sugar going to have to kick in?

You think the Lame Stream Media will ask the Nobel PEACE Prize winner? /rhet question
Posted by: Procopius2k   2012-11-11 08:53  

00:00