up on the Malian Army, wants an outside force to come in to clean up the mess in the north. The Economic Community of West African States, known as Ecowas, is willing, and said in late July that it had secured Mali's consent to go ahead with plans for a 3,000-soldier intervention force to help take bac

tively seceding from the rest of Mali and establishing a harsh form of Islamic law. Page I lot 7 EFTA00598395 The West African regional grouping Ecowas agreed to launch a coordinated military expedition to recapture the north at a meeting in Nigeria in November, with UN backing. Preparations are exp