Security Council Seeks to Aid Mali

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/13/world/security-council-seeks-to-aid-mali.html

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The Security Council unanimously passed a resolution on Friday authorizing the use of military force to assist Mali’s government in reclaiming the northern half of the country. Radical Islamists have turned the territory into an enclave for Qaeda militants and for the imposition of harsh Shariah law, which has been used to terrorize the population with amputations, stonings, whippings and other abuses, particularly against women. The Council resolution, sponsored by France, says the Islamists and their collaborators in northern Mali may be held accountable for war crimes. It gives Secretary General Ban Ki-moon 45 days to devise a plan to help the Malian authorities and endorses the deployment of troops from the Economic Community of West African States as part of the plan.