Libya urges peacekeepers’ deployment in Mali

PanARMENIAN.Net - United Nations peacekeepers should be deployed in Mali once a French-led offensive against al-Qaeda backed militants is over to prevent uprooted Islamist fighters destabilizing neighboring countries, a Libyan minister said on Thursday, January 24, according to Reuters.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdulaziz said Libya's internal security was at stake, warning of the dangers of a spillover of Mali's crisis.

"Our vision is that when the operation ends, the Security Council should consider deploying a limited peacekeeping force in the area," Abdulaziz told reporters on the sidelines of an African Union summit in Ethiopia.

The peacekeepers should be part of a broader military exit strategy - what the minister called preventative diplomacy - that regional powers and Western governments needed to start thinking about now.

"If there is no preventive diplomacy... it will be very difficult to sustain security in the area," Abdulaziz said.

"We know that if the situation in Mali deteriorates, it will have serious consequences in Libya," the minister said.

Last week's attack on a gas plant in Algeria - launched by Islamists opposed to French military action in Mali - have heightened fears in Africa and Western capitals of more attacks by jihadi militants.

"Strategically what those extremists want is to expand the operation in other areas, in neighboring countries to divert attention from northern Mali," Abdulaziz said.