U.N. Security Council asks for report on possible Mali peacekeepers

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council will ask U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to report by the end of March on the possibility of creating a peacekeeping force for Mali, French U.N. envoy Gerard Araud said on Wednesday.

France began a military offensive last month to drive out Islamist fighters, who had hijacked a revolt by Mali's Tuareg rebels and seized two-thirds of the West African country. Paris said Mali's vast desert North was in danger of becoming a springboard for extremist attacks on the region and the West.