UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he hoped the intervention would help restore "Mali's constitutional order and territorial² integrity".

 

Thousands of African troops are due to join Malian and French forces to help push back the rebels' offensive.

 

France intervened on Friday after the Islamists began advancing southwards.

 

French authorities said they had feared that the rebels would march on the capital, Bamako, creating a grave security threat for the wider region.

 

On Monday, the Security Council convened³ in New York for an emergency meeting at France's request.

 

After the meeting, France's UN ambassador Gerard Araud said his country had the "understanding and support" of the 14 other Security Council members. 

 

But he added that France also wanted the deployment⁴ of a West African force to happen "as quickly as possible".

 

The force will be deployed⁵ under UN Security Council resolution 2085, which was passed in December and allows for a 3,000-strong African-led mission to intervene in Mali later this year in the absence of any negotiated solution.

 

The African troops are expected in Mali in "coming days and weeks", Mr Araud said, adding that the Nigerian commander of the force was already on the ground.

 

Mr Ban echoed Mr Araud's call for rapid deployment of an African force.

 

"The Secretary-General welcomes that bilateral⁶ partners are responding, at the request and with the consent（同意，赞成） of the government of Mali, to its call for assistance to counter the troubling push southward by armed and terrorist groups," his office said in a statement.

 

However the Islamist advance and French response also "underscore the urgency of implementing⁷ all aspects of the resolution".

点击收听单词发音