AFRICA/MALI - Bamako calls for a UN resolution that authorizes the deployment of ECOWAS troops

Bamako (Agenzia Fides) - Mali has officially requested a UN Security Council resolution that authorizes the sending of an international force to put the north of the Country under control, for months in the hands of a number of extremist groups.
The request is contained in a letter addressed to the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, signed by the President of Mali Dioncounda Traoré and by the Premier Cheikh Modibo Diarra. The UN resolution should authorize "the intervention of an international military force in order to help the Malian army to reconquer the northern occupied regions," said the French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, who announced the decision of the authorities in Bamako.
In all probability, the Member of the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) States will provide most of the troops to be sent to Mali. France and other Western countries have offered logistical support.
In the meantime, the organization Human Rights Watch has denounced in a report published today, new human rights violations committed by Islamist groups (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb-AQIM, Ansar Al Dine and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa -MUJAO) that control the north of Mali. Limb amputation, stoning, recruitment of children and punishment for women who do not comply with the requirements of "Islamic clothing" have been reported. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 25/09/2012)