Malian defense minister says he’d ’welcome’ force

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Mali’s defense minister says the country would welcome the creation of a logistics base and command post in Bamako, from where neighboring countries could launch a military intervention to take back Mali’s north.

Yamoussa Camara said Saturday in Abidjan the notion that Mali didn’t want soldiers from the Economic Community of West African States in Bamako was a “rumor.” He said Mali agreed “with the deployment of ECOWAS forces in Mali and all the structures that go with it.”

Mali has given mixed signals on whether it would accept a military intervention to take back the north which fell to al-Qaida-linked rebels. While the government has asked for military help, the country’s military strongman had said he would only accept an intervention if it was limited to the north.