Summary Ivory Coast's president says UN-mandated African forces could intervene in lawless Mali next year.
PARIS: UN-mandated African forces could intervene in lawless northern Mali early next year, Ivory Coast s president said Wednesday, calling such an operation urgent to prevent the area in western Africa from becoming a hotbed of terrorists and drug traffickers.
Alassane Ouattara spoke while visiting France, which offered financial support for African efforts to stabilize northern Mali and also pressed for a quick military intervention. Ouattara chairs the West African bloc known as ECOWAS, which has put together a plan for 3,300 African troops to be deployed in the region.
Ouattara urged the UN on Wednesday to pass a resolution this month allowing the operation. If that happens, he said on France s Europe-1 radio, the operation could start "in the first quarter" of 2013.
"We are in a position to intervene, the troops are training," he said.
His push for an intervention came despite concessions announced Tuesday in negotiations between Mali s government and Islamist extremists and Tuareg rebels vying for control of the north.
Ouattara met in Paris on Tuesday with President Francois Hollande, who "expressed his determination to financially support" African efforts in Mali, according to a statement from Hollande s office. The statement did not say how much money that would involve.
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot said Wednesday that while the political talks are important, "France hopes an African military intervention can start to be deployed as soon as possible, given the threat from terrorist groups."
Mali, formerly a poor but stable nation, was thrown into turmoil after a March coup by disgruntled soldiers, who toppled the country s democratically elected leader. A mix of rebel groups took advantage of the power vacuum to seize a territory in the north that s about the same size as France.
