Mali Crackdown Should be UN/Africa-Led – Kremlin Envoy

The ongoing military operation against the rebels  in Mali, which was recently joined by French forces, should be led by either the United Nations or countries of the region, the Kremlin’s envoy to Africa said on Saturday.

“The situation in Mali is understandable, but I believe that any military operation in Africa can and should be flying the flags of the UN and the African Union,” Mikhail Margelov said.

“Nobody but the Africans can and should be solving the continent’s problems,” Margelov, who sits on the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, told RIA Novosti.

France deployed earlier this week a military forces to aid Mali’s government, whose army had been retreating before the attack of armed groups.

The French intervention allowed Mali’s government on Friday to recapture the strategic town of Konna in the country’s central region, taken by rebels earlier this week, BBC reported.

Mali, a French colony until 1960, is in turmoil since last March’s military coup, which triggered an uprising of separatist Tuareg tribes that seized control of the country’s south.

Unlike the Mali attack, the Somali raid failed, with French commandos repelled, at least one of them missing and Allex’s faith unclear, the report said.

M.D