'Military Intervention Possible to End Mali Crisis'

Republic of South Africa Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was elected as the African Union Commission Chair at the Summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on July 15-16, 2012. She is the first woman and Southern African to be elected to the post., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

‘Military intervention possible to end Mali crisis’

Sunday, 21 October 2012 00:01
Xinhua

BAMAKO — Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AU) Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Fri­day that there was a possibility of a mili­tary intervention to end the crisis in Mali, whose northern regions are under occupation by rebel groups.

While speaking in Bamako before the group monitoring the Malian situation which was set up in March by AU’s Peace and Security Council, Zuma affirmed that a technical note which will be prepared in collaboration with Ecowas, will be submitted to the AU on October 24 to be discussed before it can be passed on to the UN Security Coun­cil.

“All concerned international partners who include the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), AU and the United Nations agree in princi­ple that Mali should lead the process of resolving the crisis while others just give her support,” she said while also affirm­ing that she was satisfied with the out­come of the meeting.

The chairman of the Ecowas Com­mission, Kadre Ouedraogo, who was also present at the meeting, said that the “Ecowas forces are ready to play their role.”

Mali’s Foreign Minister Tieman Coulibaly said Friday's meeting was a “diplomatic success” because Mali was listened to by all concerned partners.”

After the meeting, he said, the essen­tial task is to restore Mali’s total sover­eignty and use force to fight against ter­rorists.

Coulibaly affirmed that preparations for the elections were ongoing but at the same time pointed out that the elections could not be held under the prevailing circumstances where one part of the country is under occupation.

“Holding elections in one region and not the other will be accepting the divi­sion of the country,” he said. — Xinhua.