Sarkozy says must prevent rogue state in Mali’s north

PARIS (Reuters) – French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday everything had to be done to

prevent a “terrorist or Islamic state” emerging in northern Mali after rebels seized vast tracts of the desert

north.

A March 22 coup emboldened Tuareg nomads to seize the northern half of Mali and declare an

independent state there. Al Qaeda-linked Islamist fighters are among the rebels, and analysts fear the desert zone could

become a haven for al Qaeda agents and a destabilising “rogue state” in West Africa.

Sarkozy said he supported some

form of autonomy for the Tuaregs in the former French colony.

“We have to work with the Tuaregs to see how they can

have a minimum of autonomy and we must do everything to prevent the establishment of a terrorist or Islamic state in the

heart of the Sahel,” Sarkozy told i<Tele television.

France is Mali’s fourth-largest aid donor – a vital source of

income in one of the world’s poorest countries. France also trains and equips government forces.

Mali’s former

parliament speaker Dioncounda Traore took over as interim president on Thursday as part of a deal to restore civilian rule

following the coup.

He called on the separatists to pull back from the northern towns they occupied, which include the

desert trading post and seat of Islamic learning Timbuktu and the garrison town of Gao.

Traore has said he would wage

war if the rebels did not pull back, and the 15-state ECOWAS grouping of West African countries, which pressured the coup

leaders to give up power, is preparing an intervention force of up to 3,000 troops.

When asked if France could

intervene militarily to remove the rebels, Sarkozy said it was first up to Mali’s neighbours, the African Union and

ultimately the U.N. Security Council to make those decisions.

“I don’t think it’s up to France to do

it,” he said. “France is ready to help, but we cannot be the leader of this (operation).”

France has said it is ready

to provide logistical support to ECOWAS.

France has advised its 5,000 citizens living in Mali to leave. The escalating

crisis also concerns Paris given that Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is holding six French hostages in the region.