10/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - Military intervention was “inevitable”. It was in these terms that Romano Prodi, EU Special Representative for the Sahel, described the Serval operation in Mali, during a debate with MEPs from the Parliamentary foreign affairs, development and security and defence committees. Prodi said: “I have always supported peace but the French intervention proved crucial when Mali was on the point of collapsing”. Nonetheless, he did highlight the need to start the “process of reconciliation” of a “fragmented” society and to swiftly launch the electoral process for general elections in July. He recognised that holding these elections would be “difficult”, particularly because of the high number of displaced persons. Nonetheless, he warned that, if the election process could not be got up and running quickly, elections would never take place. (AN/transl.fl)