ECOWAS army chiefs on Thursday drew up a "mandate" for a 2,000-strong force
Ghana chief of staff Peter Augustine Blay (L) sits next to his counterpart from Gambia Massanah Kinteh during a meeting of West African military chiefs in Abidjan on April 5, to discuss the possible deployment of a regional force to deal with the crisis in Mali. Tuareg rebels from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad on Friday proclaimed the "independence of Azawad (north Mali)"