Francois Hollande condemns 'stupidity' of Islamic rebels in Mali The latest meeting came in the wake of a formal request earlier this month by Mali's interim President Dioncounda Traore for ECOWAS military assistance to recover the occupied territory in the north and combat Islamist extremists there. Traore's request for assistance made it clear that "the deployment of active military forces" would not be needed in the capital Bamako. Mali insists that the West African troops must only provide logistics and air support and would be involved in law and order operations after the north of the country has been retaken by Bamako. "This is no longer the time for indecision but for concerted action," ECOWAS Commission chief Kadre Desire Ouedraogo said, adding that action must be taken against "criminals of all sorts who occupy northern Mali." Youssoufou Bamba, Ivory Coast's ambassador to the UN, speaking for ECOWAS, told the Security Council in New York on Monday that the West African nations need fighter jets and other international military support to beat the Islamists who seized northern Mali. But the UN Council gave no immediate sign it would give the backing for an intervention force. "The green light from the UN is an absolute condition," a Western diplomat in West Africa said recently, adding that not many African countries had so far volunteered to join the ECOWAS force. Senegal and Ghana have no plans to take part, while Burkina Faso President Blaire Compaore, the top mediator in Mali's crisis, has signalled support. An international Sahel conference presided by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is to meet on the crisis in New York on September 26. ECOWAS has had 3,300 regional troops on standby for months but was awaiting a formal request from the Malian authorities to seek UN Security Council approval for a military deployment. The country was considered one of the region's stable democracies until a March coup plunged it into turmoil.