The African continent is committed to deploy all its efforts to settle insecurity prevailing in northern Mali because it is "unacceptable" in a laic state to have a territory under the control of rebel groups �C the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad (MNLA) and the Ansar Dine, African Union (AU) President Boni Yayi told journalists ahead of the 19th AU summit here on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a session of the AU Peace and Security Council, AU President and President of Benin Yayi Boni said, "What is currently happening in northern Mali is unacceptable."

Referring to insecurity caused by the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad (MNLA) and Ansar Dine, the AU president said that African states are laic and stressed that the Economic Community of Western African States (ECOWAS) and the whole African continent in general are doing all they can to "dismantle" the rebel groups.

"In collaboration with the AU Peace and Security Council and the ECOWAS, we will dismantle terrorist groups active in northern Mali. We will also fight with all our energy, terror groups linked to al-Qaida including the MNLA, the Ansar Dine and Boko Haram," said AU President Yayi Boni.

The AU president said that some efforts have already been made to restore order in Mali.

He said, "An ECOWAS peacekeeping force has already been deployed to Mali to help stabilize the country and to help reconstitute the Malian army."

Speaking at the launch of the session of the AU Peace and Security Council, Chairperson of AU Peace and Security Council also President of ECOWAS and Cote D'Ivoire Alassane Ouattara said that there are "manipulated groups" which incite Malian nationals to violence.

Ouattara said the ECOWAS has refused the status of former heads of state to Captain Amadou Sanogo who overthrew former Mali President Amadou Toumani Toure in March this year.

He also said that the session will also analyze the border dispute opposing Sudan to South Sudan, the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu Province and the management of the transitional rule in Guinea Bissau.