Prodi rules out short term military action in Mali

RABAT, Nov 20, 2012 (AFP) –

Experts agree that military action in northern Mali, occupied for months by armed Islamists, is not possible before “September 2013,” UN special envoy for the Sahel region Romano Prodi said on Tuesday.

“All the (political and military) experts agree in saying that military intervention could not take place before September 2013,” Prodi said during a visit to Rabat, speaking to the press alongside Moroccan Foreign Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani.

“It is necessary to prepare for military action to be credible. My mission is to do everything to ensure peace and avoid war,” added the former Italian premier, calling for a “political solution… in Mali and the Sahel.”