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Mali's military junta said on Friday it would resist any deployment of troops by the
Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, warning that it would
treat foreign soldiers deployed to Mali under a regional plan as "the enemy".

The comments came a day after ECOWAS said it would send troops to Mali and
Guinea-Bissau to tackle the aftermath of coups that, in the case of Mali, has left
more than half the country in rebel hands.

"We will not accept any ECOWAS soldiers on our territory. This is non-negotiable.
Any soldier who comes will be seen as the enemy," Bakary Mariko, a spokesman
for Mali's CNRDRE junta, told Reuters by telephone.

Mariko accused ECOWAS - which called for elections within a year, ordered the
military back to barracks and threatened military figures with sanctions if there
was further meddling in politics - of going beyond its mandate.

He said the regional body need only provide Mali's army with logistics to help it
defeat separatist and Islamists rebels now controlling the north: "We have the
men."

While Guinea-Bissau has suffered from chronic instability, Mali had enjoyed 20
years of civilian rule before soldiers ousted the president on March 22 over
complaints of his handling of a northern rebellion.

Taking advantage of the chaos after the Mali coup, a mix of separatist and Islamist
rebels then seized the northern two-thirds of the country, carving out a zone
experts fear is a haven for al Qaeda cells and international criminal gangs.

Mali has said it is ready for dialogue but with Mali's army in tatters after the
lightening rebel advance, analysts and diplomats say it will take both time and
outside support to put any form of pressure on the rebel forces

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