(AFP) – ADDIS ABABA — The African Union has readmitted Mali after suspending it from the pan-African bloc following a coup in March, an AU official said Wednesday.
Mali’s membership was revoked after army officers overthrew the elected government seven months ago. The subsequent chaos resulted in Islamic extremists and rebel groups taking over large swathes of the country?s north.
“Council decides to lift the suspension of Mali’s participation in the activities of the AU,” the AU’s Peace and Security commissioner, Ramtane Lamamra, told reporters.
The AU also endorsed a plan urging the “restoration of state authority of the northern part of the country” and called for free elections to take place early next year, according to Lamamra.
The plan would be presented to the United Nations Security Council for endorsement.
Last week, officials from the United Nations, the AU, Mali and the regional bloc ECOWAS met in the Malian capital to devise a strategy to defeat rebels in the north.
Lamamra called for the establishment of a national structure to set up talks with rebel groups who are willing to negotiate.
The AU called for Malian authorities “to establish as soon as possible the envisioned national structure that will be in charge of conducting negotiations with Malian armed groups in the north, the groups that are willing to engage in dialogue to find the political solution to the crisis,” he said.
ECOWAS has assembled a force of some 3,000 troops to try to retake Mali’s desert north — an area roughly the size of France — while many western countries, including France, have called for the deployment of an international military force.
Lamamra said the AU supports the deployment of an international force in Mali, and called for the “rapid finalisation” of the intervention plan.
“Council welcomes the ongoing effort for the rapid finalisation of the joint planning for the deployment of an African-led international force in Mali to respond to the request of the Malian authorities to regain control of the occupied territories in the north,” he said.
Hundreds of jihadist fighters, mainly from Sudan and Western Sahara, arrived in northern Mali over the weekend to support the Islamist groups ahead of the planned regional intervention.
Western governments are fearful that northern Mali could become a sanctuary for radicals after armed Islamists seized the area.
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