BAMAKO, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Mali's ex-foreign minister and the chairman of PARENA party, Tiebile Drame, said on Thursday that he supported the deployment of a United Nations peace keeping mission in Mali.
Drame who is an expert on security matters in the Sahel, affirmed that "he totally supports the idea of deploying a UN peace keeping mission to Mali after the Franco-African coalition ends its mission of dismantling the logistical bases and weapons of the islamists."
On Monday, after a meeting between the French President Francois Hollande and the U.S. vice-president Joe Biden at the Elysee, France and the U.S. agreed on the need to quickly put in place a UN peace keeping mission in Mali.
According to Drame, "given the gravity of the situation, only funding from the regular UN budget and its logistical support will help the country to overcome the instability that it will be confronted with in the near future.
"A new UN resolution will be welcome to place all the African troops under the UN flag," he said.
Drame noted that such a move will immediately ensure proper logistical support and a more coherent coordination between different African contingents in the country.
In addition, he said that the "fight against insecurity will be reinforced."
During a press conference on Thursday, the public relations officer of the Malian army, Souleymane Maiga said that the idea of "deployment of a UN peace keeping mission to Mali had not yet been raised to the Malian military authorities."
His deputy, Souleymane Dembele, said that the deployment of a UN peace keeping mission to Mali "is a political intention," and added that there is always "a gap between the political intentions and their execution."
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