Mali's transitional Prime Minister (PM) Cheick Modibo Diarra on Friday told the country's soldiers that he was "ready to launch a major war that will end continuous wars in the country."

The PM who was addressing soldiers at Segou (the 4th region), made reference to the crisis in the north of Mali following the occupation of three regions of Gao, Timbuktuu and Kidal by the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and Ansar Dine of Iyad Ag Ghaly.

"I have always said that I do not support war, because it's war that makes a child an orphan and it's war that makes a woman a widow. But if we love our country, we must liberate it even if it's through war, a war that will end the daily wars. A war that will open the door for peace and security because without peace we cannot have security and without security, there will be no prosperity for this nation," the PM said.

"My vision for this army is very clear. We must put in place an army that will be capable of defending our nation. This will require that we improve the living and working conditions of our soldiers. We must build a robust, modern, efficient and effective army which scares away the enemy and brings us peace," he added.

"And if God gives us time and energy to liberate our country, I want to promise you that my government will not spare any effort to create such an army so that whatever we are seeing today is not repeated again," Modibo Diarra concluded.

At the same time, the special representative of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Mali, Chaka Aboudou Toure, on Friday announced that an inaugural meeting of a committee formed to monitor the Malian situation will be held next week.

"All bilateral and multilateral cooperation partners will be attending the meeting so that together we can see how to help the Malian people to recover from the current crisis and reestablish their territorial integrity."