SALON

Saturday, Dec 8, 2012 12:00 AM UTC

UN: No offensive in Mali until next autumn

By

Topics: From the Wires,

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. peacekeeping chief said Friday he doesn’t expect a West African-led military offensive to oust al-Qaida and extremists from northern Mali to begin until September or October of next year.

Herve Ladsous said experts have told the United Nations that before a military operation takes place Mali’s army needs to be retrained. Once that happens, another issue will be the rainy season, which should be over by next September, he said.

That will likely disappoint those in the West, in Africa and at the United Nations who say an African-led military intervention is urgently needed to keep western Africa from becoming a hotbed of terrorists and drug traffickers.

France is expected to circulate a draft U.N Security Council resolution early next week that would authorize the training of the Malian army and deployment of an international force. France’s U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud has said the resolution will promote two tracks — military and political — and will include benchmarks and regular reports to the Security Council to assess the force’s operational capabilities.

“Clearly experts tell us nothing much might happen before September or October for a number of reasons, having to do with the necessity to retrain the army of Mali and also with climatic questions,” Ladsous told reporters. “It’s a very difficult part of the world.”

Earlier this week, U.N. political chief Jeffrey Feltman told the Security Council that military and police planners from the West African group ECOWAS, as well as the African Union, U.N., and Mali, have been working on an operational plan for military action. But he said questions remain about how the forces would be led, sustained, trained, equipped and financed. In addition, he said, significant international support will be needed to carry out operations against terrorist groups and their affiliates in the North.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stressed that political reconciliation between the breakaway North and government-held South and international efforts should first focus on reaching an agreement among Mali’s opposing groups on the roadmap for a political transition, with military action in the North as a last resort.

Mali was plunged into turmoil in March after a coup in the capital of Bamako created a security vacuum. That allowed the secular Tuaregs, who have long felt marginalized by Mali’s government, to take half the North as a new homeland. But months later, the rebels were ousted by Islamist groups allied with al-Qaida, which have now imposed strict Shariah law in the north.

Mali rebel factions recently sent delegations to Algeria and Burkina Faso, whose president, Blaise Compaore, was appointed official negotiator by west African nations. Algeria has always maintained influence in northern Mali and has expressed reservations about west African plans to help Mali’s transitional government reconquer the north.

The United States announced that it is backing a lead role for Algeria in promoting dialogue between Mali’s government and the rebels.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns described Algeria as the “leader” in conducting the dialogue during a press conference in Algiers late Thursday.

On another front, former Italian prime minister Romano Prodi, the U.N. envoy for the Sahel, met in Rome Friday with special envoys, mediators and senior U.N. officials dealing with the crisis in the sub-Saharan region which includes Mali.

Prodi said participants discussed the coordination of efforts to address the crisis in Mali and challenges in the broader region and underlined the need to work together to support Mali and the countries in promoting peace and development.

More By Edith M. Lederer.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations