Mali: UN Willing To Consider Military Option
By MISNA
Concerns about the deterioration of the humanitarian situation for the links between rebel groups and terrorist groups, as well as a first opening to the possibility of armed intervention in northern Mali: in these terms, yesterday, the UN Security Council has adopted a unanimously approved resolution which refers to the request to allow a stabilization force put forward by economic Community of West African countries (ECOWAS).
In the resolution, the Council said it is ready to further examine this request and has encouraged close cooperation between the Transitional Authority of Mali, the ECOWAS, the African Union and other countries in order to prepare detailed options for the mandate of this potential stabilization force. The statement denounced the violence, the recent reports of destroyed cultural heritage monuments and, in particular in Timbuktu, and links between insurgent groups and Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqmi).
The Council’s concern about the proliferation of weapons throughout the Sahel region also extended to a drought which is having serious repercussions on living conditions of the population. “The hospitals have been looted, there is a of lack of medicines and trained personnel – said MISNA sources in Gao – unfortunately they are preventing an effective response against outbreaks of cholera recorded in some villages around the city.” According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the situation is for now under control with only 32 reported cases and two fatalities.
The general situation in the north of the country and possible forms of cooperation will be discussed by Mali’s Prime Minister of the Transition, Cheick Modibo Diarra, who will speak today in Morocco where he has arrived yesterday for a two-day visit.
