BAMAKO: West African troops could begin deploying in Mali within the next 48 hours, Malian army chief Ibrahim Dembele said on Wednesday, on the sidelines of a meeting of West African military chiefs in Bamako to discuss the operation.
"The difficulty we have is a logistical one, as well as determining sites where the teams can be based," he told Reuters television. "They are going to deploy first in transit zones before engaging the enemy on the ground, which should happen very shortly, within the next 48 hours."