Agence France Presse, April 9, 2013

WASHINGTON — Troops from the Economic Community of West African States deployed in Mali are "completely incapable" and are not "up to the task" of fighting Islamist militants, a senior Pentagon official said Tuesday. Michael Sheehan, assistant secretary of defense for special operations, offered his harsh criticism of the West African forces at a congressional hearing in which he praised French troops for rolling back insurgents in Mali.

"Right now, the ECOWAS force isn't capable at all. What you saw there, it is a completely incapable force. That has to change," Sheehan told a Senate Armed Services subcommittee on emerging threats.

The French intervention starting in January "very rapidly" pushed Al-Qaeda's north African branch "back across the Niger river and took control of the major cities," he said. However, he said much of the Al-Qaeda leadership had escaped. "They haven't been killed or captured, but they (the French forces) have disrupted this very threatening sanctuary."

Sheehan said a planned UN peacekeeping force in Mali should have a realistic mission, in which the blue helmets would be expected to secure cities but not hunt down militants in remote areas in the north. [.....]