ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — The African Union is asking the United Nations Security Council to endorse a military intervention to free northern Mali from extremists affiliated with Al-Qaeda. The African Union's Peace and Security Council late Tuesday endorsed a plan to send 3,300 soldiers to Mali and called on the UN Security Council to authorize the deployment for an initial period of one year. Leaders from the West African bloc known as ECOWAS agreed on the plan Sunday. Mutinous soldiers overthrew Mali's democratically elected president in March, creating a power vacuum that paved the way for Islamists to grab the north, an area the size of France. Since then, Islamic fundamentalists have imposed strict Shariah law, banning music and whipping, amputating and stoning to death people convicted of crimes. According to the African Union and ECOWAS military plan, some 5,000 Malian troops would be joined by 3,300 African troops. The largest number of foreign troops would be about 600 to 700 from Nigeria. The country of Niger would send about 500 and the remainder of troops would come from other African countries. Air power and technical and logistical support would be provided by France or the United States, as long as the plan is approved by the UN. Many in the West fear that northern Mali and the arid Sahel region could become the new Afghanistan, a no-man's-land where extremists can train, impose hardline Islamic law and plot terror attacks abroad. France, former colonial ruler to countries across the Sahel, is a prime target. That is why France and neighboring African countries are planning the joint military intervention in northern Mali. While these plans for an international military intervention in northern Mali proceed, diplomats are trying to resolve the Mali crisis through negotiation. The UN special envoy for West Africa, Said Djinnit, met Tuesday with Ansar Dine, one of the three extremist groups controlling northern Mali, to urge them to join political dialogue to end the crisis in northern Mali. The UN envoy met in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso with an Ansar Dine delegation led by Algabass Ag Intalla. Djinnit said that talks are being tried to find a peaceful solution to Mali's crisis, force will be used against those who refuse. “We want to give priority to dialogue. We hope that the dialogue takes place as soon as possible because all the peoples of northern Mali are anxious to rejoin the Mali republic and its values,” said Djinnit, after meeting with Blaise Compaore, the president of Burkina Faso. — AP
