Mali crisis: UN calls for 'swift deployment' of troops

The UN Security Council has called for the "swift deployment" of an international force to Mali.

The call comes after Islamist militants said they had entered the key central town of Konna, advancing further into government-held territory.

The UN has approved plans to send some 3,000 African troops to Mali to recapture the desert north, which is controlled by the militants.

Mali's president has asked the UN and France for help, diplomats say.

The US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, asked whether the Malian President Dioncounda Traore had requested specific kinds of military support, said: "It wasn't specific, but it basically said, 'Help, France!'."

France - the former colonial power - would respond to the request on Friday, France's UN ambassador Gerard Araud said following an emergency meeting of the security council.

For logistical reasons the African force already approved by the UN was not expected to even begin its offensive before September or October, the BBC's Barbara Plett reports from the UN in New York.