( CNN ) -- The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution that gives regional leaders 45 days to provide specific plans for an international military intervention to oust rebels in northern Mali . The unanimous resolution Friday marks a key step and speeds up preparations for a possible intervention to retake the region from al Qaeda-linked rebels . Mali plunged into chaos in March after a military ruler overthrew the president , shaking one of West Africa 's most stable democracies . The coup leader stepped down in May and transferred power to a civilian transitional government , but uncertainty looms . Ethnic Tuareg rebels and Islamist militants took advantage of the chaos to seize the northern portion of the country . Months later , two groups with ties to al Qaeda toppled the Tuareg movement . The two groups now control two-thirds of northern Mali , an area the size of France . West African states and the transitional government have asked the U.N. Security Council to authorize the military intervention . The Security Council on Friday urged the transitional government , the rebel groups and community representatives to `` engage as soon as possible '' to find a peaceful political solution . It also tasked U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with working with West African nations and the African Union to submit to the Security Council within 45 days `` detailed and actionable recommendations '' in preparation for the deployment of an international military force in Mali . United Nations officials should provide military planners to the African Union to assist with the preparations , the resolution said . Recommendations should include the number of forces needed and estimates of how much it would cost , according to the resolution . The resolution comes amid grim reports of human rights violations in the north . Radical Islamists are compiling a list of unmarried mothers in northern Mali , raising fears of cruel punishments such as stoning , amputations and executions , a senior United Nations official said this week . . Islamists controlling most of the north have vowed to impose a stricter form of Islamic law , or sharia . Local radical groups have said the law condemns relationships outside marriage . The U.N. assistant secretary-general for human rights , who just returned from a visit to Mali , said there are reports Islamist groups are compiling lists of women who have had children out of wedlock , or who were unmarried and pregnant . `` The threat is there , it 's real and people live with it and they are afraid of those lists , '' Ivan Simonovic said . `` This could indicate that these women are at imminent risk of being subjected to cruel and inhumane punishment . '' Extremists have conducted public executions , amputations , floggings and other inhuman and degrading punishments , Simonovic said . Women and children face greater risk , he said . More women in the region are ending up in forced marriages and the militants are also buying children and enlisting them as soldiers . They are paying the children 's families $ 600 -- a major incentive in a country where more than half the population lives on $ 1.25 a day , he said . In addition , the Islamists have also banned smoking , drinking , watching sports on television and listening to music .
U.N. Security Council gives regional leaders 45 days to provide a deployment plan . The United States and its allies have been pushing for the council to approve such a plan, but Russia has blocked it because of concerns about possible unintended consequences. It comes amid grim reports of human rights violations in the north .