France: Mali Requests Military Help to Free North

A French official says Mali has formally asked its West African neighbors to help free the country’s north from Islamist militants.

A French official says Mali has formally asked its West African neighbors to help free the country’s north from Islamist militants. France’s special representative for the Sahel region, Jean Felix-Paganon, says Mali is asking West African bloc ECOWAS to send “military assistance to stabilize the country and especially to reconquer the north.” The official told reporters late Tuesday that he learned of the request during a meeting in Burkina Faso’s capital with Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore. ECOWAS has said it is ready to deploy a standby force of some 3,000 troops to Mali, where Islamist militant groups are attempting to enforce a harsh form of Sharia, or Islamic law. One of the groups, the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, seized another town this week, moving closer to the territory controlled by Mali’s interim government.