African Union to request UK funding for Mali offensive

Britain and fellow United Nations Security Council countries are likely to be asked to help bankroll an African force of 3,200 soldiers to fight Islamists in Mali, diplomats have said. 

Details on the strength and scope of the mission were discussed at a closed-door meeting at the African Union on Wednesday night, when it was agreed to cancel Mali's suspension from the bloc ahead of the expected offensive.

The UN Security Council asked the AU to come up with a battle plan to oust radical Islamic militias from Mali's north by the end of November.

"We are working to finalise the joint planning for the early deployment of an African-led international military force to help Mali recover the occupied territories," Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the AU Commission's chairman, said at the meeting in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital and AU headquarters.

Source and full story: Daily Telegraph (UK), 25 Oct 2012