Need to hand over Mali operations to UN: Biden

Paris: US Vice President Joe Biden on Monday there is a need to hand over the Mali military operations to a UN mission when it is “prudent”, media reported.

“We agreed on the need to as quickly as reasonably possible establish the African-led international mission in Mali and as quickly as is prudent transition that mission to the United Nations,” Biden said after talks with French President Francois Hollande.

The leaders discussed issues concerning Mali, Syria and Iran. Biden hailed Hollande’s “decisiveness” in Mali and commended France’s leading role in the fight against terrorism.

Biden stressed the importance of working with “our regional partners to counter terrorism cross North African and beyond”. The US vice president arrived in Paris Sunday after attending the Munich Security Conference. He will later head for London for talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron.