Mali on Wednesday asked the UN Security Council to send a rapid-reaction force to help end a wave of attacks on UN peacekeepers in northern Mali that have left 31 dead.
Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop told the 15-member council that it must take "urgent measures" to ensure that the UN mission has the "appropriate means to fulfil its mandate, protect civilians and the blue helmets who are paying a high price on the ground."