PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday warned that regional troops would definitely intervene in the occupied area if negotiations with extremists in Mali failed to yield a solution.
This came days after Mali’s new Foreign Minister Tieman Coulibaly said that winning back the Islamist-occupied north was the top priority of a unity government which was formed on orders from West African mediators.
The armed Islamist groups have openly allied with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim) and are enforcing strict sharia law.
On Wednesday they banned all secular music from radio waves in the north, the latest move after recently cutting off the hand of a thief and stoning to death an unmarried couple.
In the fabled city of Timbuktu they smashed ancient Muslim shrines, declaring them “idolatrous” just days after the UNESCO World Heritage site was put on an endangered list.
Jonathan, who was on a 24-hour visit to Senegal yesterday after talks with his Senegalese counterpart Macky Sall, said: “Diplomacy or negotiation is the first, military intervention is extreme. When negotiation fails that is the time you can talk about military intervention.”
He said the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) would also need a United Nations mandate before stepping in.
“ECOWAS will definitely intervene militarily, but ... first and foremost we are negotiating. We must stabilise the government ... I believe through negotiation we will be able to resolve the crisis, we don’t necessarily need military intervention ... but if that fails we will have no option.”
Mali this week formed a new unity government on orders from ECOWAS in the hopes it would be better able to deal with the country’s crises, and make an official request for military backup from the regional troops.
The new government, announced by presidential decree on Monday, saw six ministers booted out of their positions in an administration formed to take over from a military junta that took power in a March coup.
This came days after Mali’s new Foreign Minister Tieman Coulibaly said that winning back the Islamist-occupied north was the top priority of a unity government which was formed on orders from West African mediators.
The armed Islamist groups have openly allied with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim) and are enforcing strict sharia law.
On Wednesday they banned all secular music from radio waves in the north, the latest move after recently cutting off the hand of a thief and stoning to death an unmarried couple.
In the fabled city of Timbuktu they smashed ancient Muslim shrines, declaring them “idolatrous” just days after the UNESCO World Heritage site was put on an endangered list.
Jonathan, who was on a 24-hour visit to Senegal yesterday after talks with his Senegalese counterpart Macky Sall, said: “Diplomacy or negotiation is the first, military intervention is extreme. When negotiation fails that is the time you can talk about military intervention.”
He said the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) would also need a United Nations mandate before stepping in.
“ECOWAS will definitely intervene militarily, but ... first and foremost we are negotiating. We must stabilise the government ... I believe through negotiation we will be able to resolve the crisis, we don’t necessarily need military intervention ... but if that fails we will have no option.”
Mali this week formed a new unity government on orders from ECOWAS in the hopes it would be better able to deal with the country’s crises, and make an official request for military backup from the regional troops.
The new government, announced by presidential decree on Monday, saw six ministers booted out of their positions in an administration formed to take over from a military junta that took power in a March coup.
Once one of the region’s most stable democracies, Mali has crumbled into despair since President Amadou Toumani Toure was overthrown by the military.
The new government was formed after an order from Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) mediators. Embattled interim authorities stood by helplessly as the Islamists deepened their hold on the north.
Controversial Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra remains at the head of government despite calls for his resignation from much of Mali’s political class who accused him of incompetence and having no plan to win back the north.
Interim President Dioncounda Traore in August declared his confidence in his prime minister, a renowned astrophycisist and former chairman of Microsoft Africa.
The ensuing political chaos allowed Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels to seize control of the vast desert north, an area larger than France or Texas, where they have enforced strict sharia law.
The option of a military intervention from a 3,300-strong Economic Community of West African States standby force has been on the table for months but “very little” has been done to implement this, Mali’s Defence Minister Yamoussa Camara admitted recently.
Mali’s army chief of staff Ibrahima Dembele has said the Malian army - which is sorely in need of training and equipment - will play the lead role in ejecting the jihadists.
“No-one will fight this war in place of Mali, but the others will provide support, above all in the air and in logistics,” he said on Tuesday.
The UN has asked for more information on the size, means and plans of the proposed force before granting it a mandate.
ECOWAS on Wednesday urged the new government to swiftly organise elections and re-establish “territorial integrity”.
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