[The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Mali’s government have agreed to the deployment of a standby force to the West African country, where Islamist militants control the north. “Thankfully, there is now a consensus around the mandate of the force, which is the same mandate that the heads of state had decided, and that is three strong responsibilities for the force, which are to protect republican institutions, support them and to restore their territorial integrity,” said ECOWAS communications director Sonny Ugoh.]