Washington backs African military intervention in mali

The US is willing to support a well-planned military intervention led by African countries in northern Mali to eliminate what he described as armed extremists linked to al-Qaeda in the country, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson has announced. "There will have to be at some point military action to push AQIM (Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) and MUJWA (a related group) out of the north and out of the control that they are exercising over towns like Timbuktu, and Kidal and Gao," Carson said. "But any military action up there must be well planned, well organized, well resourced and well thought through. And it must in fact be agreed upon by those who are going to be most affected by it," he added. The Prime Minister of Mali Modibo Diarra has called Saturday on Western countries led by France for military intervention in northern Mali by sending aircraft and special forces. For its part, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) announced the absence of any intervention project in Mali. Meanwhile, Commander of US Africa Command Carter Ham asserted the crisis cannot be resolved anyway but politically and diplomatically.