UN plans new peacekeeping force for Mali THE UN Security Council will consider plans to deploy a new UN peacekeeping force to Mali following France's ejection of hard-line Islamists from the cities there, a senior diplomat says. The Security Council last month passed a resolution approving a multinational African force to help stabilise Mali. But with the Islamist forces in retreat, that plan has been overtaken by events on the ground. Instead, the Security Council will discuss a regular UN peacekeeping force for Mali instead, the senior diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the plans were in an early phase of discussion. The force would probably be composed of 3000 to 5000 peacekeepers, the diplomat said. A UN peacekeeping force would be a positive development, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Thursday on France-Inter radio. "The evolution announced by the UN would be a very positive evolution, and I want this initiative to be carried out," he said. France will play its role, of course. French troops might still be needed to stay on for a while as a rapid-reaction strike force, with more aggressive duties in comparison to the pacification program assigned to the UN peacekeepers, the diplomat said.