WEST African leaders will attend a special Mali summit in Ivory Coast to discuss how to increase their role as the French-led military intervention to oust Islamic extremists from power enters its second week.
Neighbouring countries are expected to contribute about 3000 troops to the operation in Mali, aimed at preventing militants from advancing further south toward the capital, Bamako.
While initial contributions from Togo and Nigeria have arrived, concerns about the mission have delayed other countries from sending their promised troops so far.
Charles Koffi Diby, Ivory Coast's foreign affairs minister, said Mali's neighbours must "face up to the weight of our responsibilities in conducting and co-ordinating military operations in Mali."
At Saturday's meeting, the big issue will be sorting out a central command for the African force, a French official said.
Nigerian General Shehu Usman Abdulkadir is expected to be named the force commander.
As the military intervention entered its second week, Malian forces had reclaimed the key town of Konna whose capture prompted the French action, according to French and Malian military officials.
However, phone lines to the town were still down making it difficult to independently corroborate the claim.
France said it was keeping up the pressure around another key town, Diabaly, which was taken by the Islamists on Monday.
French forces have moved around Diabaly to cut off supplies to the Islamist extremists, said a French official.
Mali once enjoyed a reputation as one of West Africa's most stable democracies with the majority of its 15.8 million people practising a moderate form of Islam.
That changed last March, following a coup in the capital which created the disarray that allowed Islamist extremists to take over the main cities in the distant north.
The UN refugee agency said on Friday the fighting in Mali could force as many as 700,000 people to flee their homes in the coming months.
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