OUAGADOUGOU, July 9 (Xinhua) -- The presidents of the ECOWAS Contact Group on Mali who met over the week-end in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, have recommended the formation of a national unity government before the end of July.

After having held talks with Mali's pressure groups, the Contact Group urged them to embrace the spirit of selflessness in order to get their country out of the current crisis.

The Economic Cooperation of West African States (ECOWAS) Contact Group on Mali leaders at the Ouagadougou meeting on Saturday recommended, among other things, the return of the transitional president Dioncounda Traore, the reinforcement of the republican institutions and the restoration of the country's territorial integrity.

The mini-summit asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to pursue and charge the rebels who are occupying northern Mali and who are currently engaged in an operation to destroy the country's historic monuments.

After the discussions, Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore who is leading the mediation process in the Malian crisis, appealed to the international community to come together and save Mali from the hands of armed rebels and terrorists.

Compaore positively appreciated that the work of the Contact Group, which, according to him, "was a platform for reflection which was helping to support the mediation efforts in order to enable the country to recover its territorial integrity."

He recalled the terrorism threat coming from northern Mali and which will not only compromise the country's unity and social cohesion, but also its stability as well as the survival of the other sub-regional countries and beyond that, the international peace and security.