11/13/2012 19:42 GMT
by Romaric Ollo HIEN
OUAGADOUGOU, Nov 13, 2012 (AFP) - A UN envoy on Tuesday met Islamist rebels occupying northern Mali as the African Union endorsed military intervention to retake control of the desert north.
The UN's representative in West Africa Said Djinnit met representatives of Islamist rebels Ansar Dine at a private residence in Ouagadougou, marking their first official contact.
The meeting came after Djinnit held talks with Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore, the regional chief mediator in the crisis.
Djinnit stressed that "all options and avenues of dialogue should be exploited to try to fix the problem in a peaceful manner."
Mohamed Ag Aharib, an Ansar Dine representative said his group "assured (Djinnit) that we are ready to dialogue."
He underlined that his movement, one of the Islamist groups occupying the north, was waiting from a sign from Malian authorities that they were also seeking peace.
Tuareg rebels, who also met Djinnit in Ouagadougou, separately said they were "completely open to dialogue, according to Ibrahim Ag Mohamed Assaleh, one of the leaders of the movement.
Mali rapidly imploded after a coup in Bamako in March allowed Tuareg desert nomads, who had relaunched a decades-old rebellion for independence, to seize the main towns in the north with the help of Islamist allies.
The secular separatists were quickly sidelined by the Islamists, who had little interest in their aspirations for an independent homeland and set about implementing their version of strict Islamic law, meting out punishments including public stonings and floggings and destroying World Heritage sites they considered idolatrous.
African nations and the international community have expressed growing concern over the continued occupation of Mali's north since it could provide a safe haven to Al Qaeda-linked extremist groups and criminal gangs.
While not ruling out talks to resolve the crisis, leaders from the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) meeting Sunday in Abuja agreed to send 3,300 soldiers to retake control of north Mali, which has been occupied since April.
On Tuesday, the African Union endorsed the military intervention.
The AU's Commissioner for Peace and Security, Ramtane Lamamra, did not provide details of the mission.
But he said it aims to "regain the occupied regions in the north of the country, dismantle the terrorist and criminal networks and restore effectively the authority of the state over the entire national territory."
Lamamra said he believes the UN will pass a resolution approving the mission before the end of the year, but did not confirm when the first troops could be deployed.
Djinnit also said he "cannot speak about the deadline for the deployment" of the force.
But he stressed that "the option preferred by everyone, including ECOWAS, the African Union and the United Nations, is the option of dialogue, and we hope that dialogue will take place as soon as possible".
In Paris, French President Francois Hollande said "France and Europe will provide logistic support, and training" to any mission. He stressed that France would not intervene on its own in the crisis.
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