Bamako , Mali ( CNN ) -- After intense diplomacy , the government of Mali and the Economic Community of West African States ( ECOWAS ) have agreed that troops from the West African regional block can be based in the capital of Bamako , as a step toward ending conflict in the northern part of the country . According to the agreement between the Malian government and ECOWAS , authorities have given the green light for a logistics base on the outskirts of the city . `` There will be no foreign troops fighting in the capital . In return , ECOWAS requires operational headquarters and a base in Bamako together with a police force , '' said Nouhou Togo , communications Officer at Mali 's Ministry of Defence . United Nations backing for the force will be sought this week by the Malian government and ECOWAS , and is likely to be followed by further negotiations . `` A crisis like this is not solved over night . It takes time and preparation . Though , when that day comes , the Malian army is ready to go in the north , '' said Togo . Following a military coup in the capital in March , Islamists seized control of two-thirds of the Texas-sized nation . Mali -- seen as a stable democracy and an example for other less stable countries in the region -- was thrown into chaos . Islamist groups -- some of them with links to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb , or AQIM -- swiftly seized key towns in the vast and scarcely populated north . Soon after taking the towns of Kidal , Gao and Timbuktu , they implemented a hardline form of sharia law including capital and corporal punishments for relatively minor offenses . Thieves had their hands and feet amputated while a couple accused of adultery were stoned to death . Plans for a large presence of ECOWAS troops has been fueling political tensions in Bamako for weeks . Over the last month , the West African regional block has had 3,300 regional troops on standby waiting for a go-ahead from Bamako . Meanwhile Interim President Dioncounda Traore has opposed a regional force based in Bamako . Capt . Amadou Haya Sanogo , who led a military junta that toppled the government in March , has made it clear that he does not want ECOWAS troops in the south of the country , which he argues is already secured by the Malian military . Resistance to an actual force in the Malian capital has also come from several groups , outspoken politicians and the Malian people worried about foreign troops flooding into the capital . The request for 3,000 troops to help defeat the Islamists and regain control of the north will be considered during a meeting chaired by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday . Before the deployment can go ahead , it will need a mandate from the Security Council , which earlier rejected an intervention plan because of a lack of detail . Following the agreement announced Sunday regarding ECOWAS troops , there are still uncertainties about the details of troop deployment . `` The question is if the Malian military is ready to go fight in the north . So far I have not seen any proof of this , '' says Gilles Yabi , a researcher with the International Crisis Group , a Brussel-based nongovernment organiztion seeking to end conflicts . `` The government is still very disorganized and has not been able to agree with the Malian military regarding troops deployment , '' said Yabi , from Dakar in neighboring Senegal . Given that most of the Islamist northern strongholds are in urbanized areas , a military intervention risks harming civilians and even more displacement . According to U.N. figures , over 450,000 Malians have already been displaced from their homes -- an ECOWAS intervention could well raise that number . `` In any scenario a military intervention will have serious humanitarian implications . To date , there has been very little fighting since government forces fled the north -- for the most part armed groups simply carved up the territory . But once the government in Bamako begins to act , conflict in the north will escalate , '' said Bertrand Soret at the European Union liazon office in Bamako . At some point , argues Yabi , the use of force will probably be necessary to neutralize transnational armed groups that indulge in terrorism , jihadism and drug and arms trafficking , and to restore Mali 's territorial integrity . `` To stabilize Mali , the government will have to agree with the Algerian politicians to tackle the influx of arms and combatants between a Libya still struggling after the fall of ( Moammar ) Gaddafi and northern Mali through southern Algeria , '' said Yabi . `` Minimal and sustainable security in northern Mali can not be re-established without the clear involvement of the Algerian political and military authorities . This is not something the Malian army and ECOWAS forces will be able to tackle themselves . ''
After a military coup in March , Islamists seized two-thirds of Mali . The West African regional block has had 3,300 regional troops on standby . Mali and the West African group have reached an agreement . Troops can be based in the capital of Bamako , as a step toward ending conflict .