Leaders of West African states requested the UN Security Council to provide immediate logistical and financial support for the deployment of an African-led peacekeeping mission to Mali, dpa quoted the UN special envoy for West Africa as saying on Friday. The first of an estimated 3,000 African troops of the mission in Mali, known as AFISMA, had arrived in the troubled country while France sent its air forces and ground troops to fight Islamic militants in north Mali. -- SPA