UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council will consider plans to deploy a new U.N. peacekeeping force to Mali to help pacify the northern part of the West African country following France’s ejection of hard-line Islamists from the cities there, a senior diplomat said Thursday.

The Security Council last month passed a resolution approving a multinational African force to help stabilize Mali. But with the Islamist forces in retreat, that plan has been overtaken by events on the ground.