Credit: UN Photo/Evan Schneider /   Former Mali Prime Minister Soumeylou  Boubeye Maïga  at UN Security Council meeting on the situation in Mali in March 2019.

By Gary Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC TIMES

The government of west-Africa nation Mali appears helpless and unable to stem the tide of deadly violence gripping the country.  The latest violence was a horrific  massacre on March 23 in which 160 people were killed in the village of Ogossagou near the border with Burkina Faso.  Mali’s Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga resigned Thursday along with his entire Cabinet, as public protests mounted over the government’s inability to stem ethnic violence.  On Wednesday, a motion of no confidence was submitted as MPs blamed the Prime Minister for failing to handle the unrest.  

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keifa said in a statement that he accepted Mr Maiga and his ministers’ resignation:

Par lettre datée du 18 avril 2019, le Premier ministre Monsieur Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga a présenté au Président de la République sa démission ainsi que celle des membres du Gouvernement, conformément à l’article 38 de la Constitution.

Le Communiqué de la Présidence pic.twitter.com/FOFswcQKyL

— Presidence Mali (@PresidenceMali) April 18, 2019

“A prime minister will be named very soon and a new government will be put in place after consultations with all political forces,” the statement said.

Credit: Wikipedia /  Map of Mali highlighted by capital city BAMAKO

Credit: Photo : MINUSMA/Harandane Dicko /  Mar. 23, 2019,  Ouagadougou. Burkina Faso. / UN Security Council President French ambassador to the United Nations Francois Delattre ( Center), German ambassador Christoph Heusgen (left) and Côte d’Ivoire representative (right) meeting on Mali situation. 

More than 150 Fulani  were massacred as there seems to be no end in sight to ethnic and jihadist violence in Mali, despite the presence of thousands of French and UN Peacekeepers. Members of the UN Security Council met in Mali last month concerning the deadly violence.

The horrific attack occurred right at the moment  UN Security Council members were meeting in the west African nation on the future of the mandate of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) that is set to expire June 30, 2019.  An ethnic Dogon militia already blamed for scores of attacks in central Mali over the past year attacked an ethnic Peuhl village.

The Security Council mission met Mali Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga  to discuss the  the increased threat from jihadist fighters in central Mali.

UN Vows Mali Peacekeeping Mission Will Continue Despite Being The Deadliest In World 

“MINUSMA is to support the Malian State through the protection of civilians,” 

France’s UN Ambassador François Delattre  , speaking as President of the UN Security Council,  proclaimed in Mali at a press conference after the deadly violence.