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Mali: West African intervention force to deploy in 48 hours
(Reuters) – West African troops could begin deploying in Mali within the next 48 hours, Malian army chief Ibrahim Dembele said on Wednesday, on the sidelines of a meeting of West African military chiefs in Bamako to discuss the intervention operation.
“The difficulty we have is a logistical one, as well as determining sites where the teams can be based,” he told reporters television. “They are going to deploy first in transit zones before engaging the enemy on the ground, which should happen very shortly, within the next 48 hours.”
The proposed African-led intervention has until recently remained mired in indecision after months of planning, and the al-Qaeda insurgents last week pushed into the government-held south, seizing the town of Konna.
Mali has been effectively split in two since March 2012, when al-Qaeda linked elements took advantage of a short-lived coup in Bamako.