UN Security Council to discuss peacekeepers for Mali

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council will soon begin discussing a possible United Nations peacekeeping force for Mali, an idea the world body had been uncomfortable with before France's recent military intervention, envoys said on Wednesday.

Last month, the 15-nation council approved an African-led force for Mali that likely would have been funded and trained by the European Union. That force would not have begun operations until late this year against Islamist militants who took control of a vast region of northern Mali last year.