10/11/2012 17:00 GMT
by Claire Rosemberg
BRUSSELS, Oct 11, 2012 (AFP) - The EU is working on plans to help Mali's army oust rebels and Islamic extremists controlling the country's north, including the dispatch of 150 trainers, according to EU sources and a draft document obtained by AFP Thursday.
"The situation in the Sahel is not looking good," said a senior EU official close to the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. "If we don't take action it will only get worse."
A two-page document detailing an EU response to the Mali crisis calls for "planning work on a potential military mission ... to be pursued and deepened urgently."
The document, agreed by ambassadors of the 27-nation bloc, is to be put to foreign ministers meeting for talks in Luxembourg on Monday. "We need to be sure members states are on board before we go on," said another senior EU diplomat.
European Union planning concerned "a crisis management concept relating to the reorganisation and training of the Malian defence forces," the document says.
As France calls for international military intervention, sources said up to 150 military trainers could be involved in getting Malian forces into offensive mode.
"We have an ungoverned space under the control of terrorists, with narco-trafficking and smuggling of all kinds," an EU official said. "A credible threat of force -- that is what is lacking."
Different ideas are currently under examination ahead of Monday's Luxembourg talks, aimed at signing off on an accord before a key meeting in Bamako five days later.
At those talks on October 19, members of the West African regional body ECOWAS, the African Union, the EU, the United Nations and Mali's neighbours are hoping to thrash out a political and military strategy to end the crisis.
The most likely scenario will be the quick dispatch of some 150 senior army trainers, an EU official said.
But another scenario is for sending EU instructors to work alongside the Mali military, Afghan-style, as its soldiers march north.
"We need to offer swift training for the Malian army, and we need to act quickly," said a third EU source. "There has to be a military response... to gain reasonable control of the terrain."
France has drawn up a UN Security Council resolution seeking a detailed plan within 30 days on an international military intervention following a formal request from the authorities in Bamako.
The draft resolution by the formal colonial power also calls on UN member countries and organizations such as the EU to train and equip the Malian army to fight the rebel groups and fighters from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in the north.
Both the French resolution and the EU proposals also demand political action, calling for the return of democracy and negotiations with the rebels to restore government in the north.
In March, military putschists seized power in the capital Bamako, ousting President Amadou Toumani Toure, only to see the north and east fall to Tuareg rebels and militias linked to Al-Qaeda.
In Bamako on Thursday, thousands took to the streets demanding armed intervention by a West African force to reconquer the north from the Islamists who have forced women to wear veils and destroyed ancient tombs as they impose Sharia law.
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