PARIS — The African-led mission in Mali should become a UN peacekeeping operation as soon as possible, France has told the UN Security Council.French forces were deployed nearly a month ago to combat al-Qaeda-linked militants who had taken over Mali’s desert northern regions.But Paris says it wants to begin pulling out its 4,000 troops in March.It wants planning for a transition to begin now so a handover can be completed in April."From the moment that security is assured, we can envisage without changing the structures that it can be placed under the framework of UN peacekeeping operations,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said.The French ambassador to the UN had raised the matter for the first time at the Security Council on Wednesday, he told reporters.France wants the UN force to help stabilise Mali and seek an end to long-standing rivalry between ethnic Tuaregs and Arabs and the rest of the population.Earlier, the French defence minister said troops were engaged in a "real war” with "terrorists” around the Malian town of Gao.The town is a former militant stronghold where troops are reported to have found stores of explosives and other military materials.Islamist militants were swept from Gao last month, but Jean-Yves Le Drian said clashes were continuing in the area.The Mali militants have been routed and cleared from most of the population centres.But clashes are continuing away from the towns.