African Union Commission Chairman Jean Ping says the situation in Mali, where al-Qaida and its allies are attempting to set up a sanctuary, is one of the “most serious crises to confront the continent.”
Ping spoke at an AU summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, Saturday where Mali topped the agenda.
Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara condemned what he called “the intention of terrorist groups to create a sanctuary in northern Mali.”
Radical Islamists overtook the country's vast northern desert in the wake of a political rebellion launched by Tuareg separatists. The militant groups have carried out severe beatings in towns under their control, and have destroyed ancient Muslim shrines they claim are sacrilegious.
The African Union is working with the western regional bloc ECOWAS to support Mali's interim government, installed after a March 22 coup, and to discuss options for confronting the Islamist insurgency.
African leaders are also seeking U.N. Security Council support for military intervention in Mali to end the northern rebellion and reunite the Sahel region state.