The Economist, Nov. 10, 2012

Hectic diplomacy and preparations for a UN-backed war against a branch of al-Qaeda in the Sahara desert are both proceeding apace [....]

BY THE end of this month an array of Western and African governments and regional bodies is supposed, according to a resolution passed unanimously last month in the UN Security Council, to have drawn up a detailed military plan to save the northern chunk of Mali from a clutch of Islamist rebel groups with ties to al-Qaeda. [....]

The basic UN plan is for African leadership and manpower to combine with Western muscle and know-how to swat the rebels. It has been mooted that a force of 3,000-plus soldiers from Mali’s lousy and demoralised army plus another 3,000 or so from the other 14 countries in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the regional club that is expected to lead the fray, will be backed by a contingent of a few hundred Western specialists, mainly from France and the United States, to provide intelligence, logistics, aerial firepower and surveillance (including drones), and perhaps small contingents of special forces. ECOWAS is ill-equipped to beat the jihadists on its own. The UN may need to beg for troops from elsewhere. Few expect an assault to begin before next year, despite the UN’s demands for urgency. [....]