Abidjan - Cote d'Ivoire — ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff (CCDS) will hold an emergency meeting in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire 25-26 July 2012 on the outcome of the recent Technical Assessment Mission (TAM) to Mali.

The meeting will be briefed by the Chief of Staff of the ECOWAS Standby Force (ESF) on the mission, which is part of preparations for the planned deployment of a regional force in Mali to assist in the stabilization of institutions and the restoration of the country's national integrity in line with the decision of the 41st Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government.

The seven-nation regional Contact Group on Mali at its second meeting in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on 7th July 2012, called for a government of national unity to implement the road map for a peaceful end to the crisis through the restoration of the country's territorial integrity and the organization of fair, transparent and credible presidential election at the end of ongoing 12-month transitional period.

The Group also urged the interim President Dioncounda Traore to file without delay, a formal request to ECOWAS and the United Nations, for the deployment of ECOWAS troops to support the Malian Army in its core duty of defending the territorial integrity of Mali.

The ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff has held several meetings as part of the regional efforts for the resolution of the crises in Mali and Guinea-Bissau following the coups d'états which interrupted constitutional rule in both countries, and the separatist rebellion in northern Mali.