As the threat emerged in Mali from several Islamist groups,
neighbouring West African states agreed in late 2014 to form a mission
along the lines of a special U.N. brigade sent to eastern Congo in 2013.
AU may finalise Mali counter-terror force details by July(RP Defense)
Plans for a new African counter-terrorism force to support vulnerable U.N. peacekeepers in Mali, where militant Islamist groups are stepping up their activities, should be finalised by July, the African Union's special envoy to Mali said.
The
government in Bamako and officials of the U.N. MINUSMA force in Mali
have sought more help in combating al Qaeda-linked insurgents, who have
become more active despite efforts by French, Malian and U.N. troops to
quash them.
As the threat emerged in Mali from
several Islamist groups, neighbouring West African states agreed in late
2014 to form a mission along the lines of a special U.N. brigade sent
to eastern Congo in 2013.
Diplomats say a bid by
the regional states - which include Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Ivory
Coast - to launch the force has been hampered by difficulties in
harmonising it with other security initiatives and regional rivalries
for influence.
"My judgment is maybe in three months, we should have a clear idea of what will be done and how it will be done,"
Pierre Buyoya, the special representative to Mali, told Reuters in the
Ethiopian city of Bahir Dar during a conference on security.
"This
terrorist threat is threatening not only Mali, but also the whole
region. Northern Mali has become a base to attack Burkina Faso, to
attack Ivory Coast, and maybe tomorrow other countries," he said in an interview.
French
forces drove jihadists out of Mali's northern cities in 2013 but they
have since regrouped, launching attacks such as one on a Bamako luxury
hotel in November in which 20 people were killed.
In
March, further south, fighters from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb -
the group's North African branch - shot swimmers and sunbathers before
storming hotels in the Ivory Coast town of Grand Bassam, killing 19
people.
Critics say the 10,000-strong U.N. force's
ability to bring peace to Mali is hamstrung by its lack of an
aggressive counter-terrorism mandate, so it cannot hunt militants to
pre-empt attack.
Buyoya said models such as those
of the AU's AMISOM force in Somalia that is battling al Shabaab
Islamists or the multi-national force tackling Boko Haram militants in
Nigeria and neighbours were also being considered for the new mission.
The
resurgence of Islamist groups such as the Massina Liberation Front
(MLF) and al Qaeda-linked Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa
(MUJWA) have also threatened to derail a Mali peace agreement signed by
the government with Tuareg-led rebels last year, officials say.
Buyoya said a preliminary study on the new force had been drawn up by regional defence ministers and chiefs of staff.
"The
big challenge now is commitment of partners for funding, because
clearly the African Union does not have the means to fund this force," he said, without suggesting who would finance the new force.
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