This is an emergency, this is a race against time," Traore said in a speech to foreign officials in Bamako (AFP/File, Habibou Kouyate)
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Not a second to lose to recapture Mali's north: leader[color=rgb(103, 103, 103)][/size](AFP) – [/color][color=rgb(0, 0, 0)]4 hours ago[/color][color=rgb(103, 103, 103)]
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[/size]BAMAKO — Mali's President Dioncounda Traore said Friday not a second should be lost to recapture the desert in the north of his country from armed Islamists, as African and European leaders met to work on the logistics of such a move.
[/size]"We must not lose a single second. This is an emergency, this is a race against time," said Traore in a speech to the foreign officials.
[/size]The summit comes a week after the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution giving West African nations 45 days to lay out details for military intervention.
[/size]The vast region the size of France fell under control of radical Islamist groups in the chaos that followed a March coup in the country that was once considered one of Africa's most stable democracies.
[/size]Concerned that the area could become the same type of haven for Al-Qaeda Islamists that Afghanistan was a decade ago, Mali's neighbours and the West are keen to drive the radicals out.
[/size]In the months that they have been in control of the region, the Islamists have imposed their version of sharia law, arresting unveiled women, stoning to death unmarried couples and amputating the limbs of suspected thieves, according to residents and rights groups.
[/size]They have also destroyed ancient Muslim shrines that have been revered for centuries and are classed as World Heritage Sites, but which the radicals consider blasphemous.
[/size]The Malian leader thanked the international community, and notably the African Union, the United Nations and former colonial master France, for their support since the start of the crisis.
[/size]"Thanks to your support and solidarity our country, Mali, has never felt alone," he said.
[/size]The West African regional bloc ECOWAS has said that it could send up to 3,000 troops to recapture the area.
[/size]Among those attending Friday's summit were new African Union chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan.
[/size]The number-two EU diplomat Pierre Vimont, France's envoy to the Sahel Jean Felix-Paganon, and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's special envoy for the region, former Italian prime minister Romano Prodi, also took part.
[/size]European Union leaders meeting in Brussels meanwhile vowed to help Mali by backing up an international military force and training Malian defence forces.
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