FOR THE SECURITY OF WEST AFRICA & THE WORLD MALI'S AL QAEDA-AFFILIATED TUAREG REBELLS MUST BE DEFEATED

The leaders of the nation's that constitute the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), deserve to be congratulated for forcing the coup-makers in Mali, to agree to hand over power to an interim civilian leader, within the short space of two weeks.

Under the circumstances, the ECOWAS brokered deal in which the speaker of Mali's Parliament, Diouncounda Traore, is to be sworn in as interim president, and organise elections in 40 days, establishes the precedent that ECOWAS will not permit military coups in the region to stand.

ECOWAS must now move quickly to get its military to work with France and the US, to organise special forces from the regional bloc's member states' military, to help Mali deal with the Tuaregs who have declared independence in the north of the country, and announced a new breakaway state, Azawad.

The EU and the US must provide all the funding needed for an ECOWAS joint-force, made up of special forces, to defeat the northern Tuareg rebellion.

That combined force will need total dominance of the airspace in northern Mali, and the active cooperation of Algeria, whose secret services are known to have direct links with the Malian Tuareg leadership.

As a first step, whiles the joint-force is mobilised and readied for the long and tough battle ahead, drones will have to be deployed to harry the Tuareg rebels and destroy their forces' ability to fight and mount raids on Malian forces.

The weapon of economic sanctions, will play a key role in defeating the Malian Tuareg rebellion. For example, no fuel must be allowed up north. That will quickly cause the civilian population in the north of Mali to become disaffected with the Tuareg rebels.

Anything else that will help sustain the rebellion must also be included in the list of items not allowed into the north. That will tighten the noose around the rebels further.

That Malian Tuareg rebellion must be defeated, whatever it takes to do so - if the miasma of Islamic fanaticism linked to Al Qaeda, is not to spread its poison across the entire region, and pose a threat to the rest of the world too.

For the security of West Africa and the rest of the world, Mali's Al Qaeda-affiliated Tuareg rebels must be defeated, at all costs. A word to the wise...

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