The UN Security Council has unanimously approved plans for an African-led military intervention in Mali aimed at reunifying the embattled North African state. The resolution, approved in New York on Thursday afternoon, calls for political reconciliation, elections and the training of the country’s security forces before any operation is launched to reclaim Mali’s northern areas. West African nations want to send a 3,300-strong force to oust armed groups that moved into the vast desert area and rolled out strict Islamic law after a military coup in Bamako in March created a power vacuum in the country.
