Three UN Peacekeepers From CHAD Killed in Terror Attack In MALI
Credit: MINUSMA / Tribute ceremony in N’Djamena for the 10 Chadian UN Peacekeepers who were killed on 20 January, 2019 in a terrorist attack in northern Mali.
By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
UNITED NATIONS – NEW YORK – Three UN peacekeepers from Chad were killed in northern Mali on Sunday when their convoy hit a roadside bomb near Aguelhok, in the restive Kidal region, according to the UN Stabilization Mission in Mali(MINUSMA). The MINUSMA Mission In West Africa nation Mali is the most dangerous in the world for UN Peacekeepers. There have been nearly 200 UN ‘blue helmet’ peacekeepers killed since MINUSMA was established in 2013. On Jan. 20, 2019, ten peacekeepers from Chad were killed in a suspected Islamist attack in northern Mali.
“We must combine all efforts to identify and apprehend those responsible for these terrorist acts so they can answer for their crimes before the justice system. I bow before the remains of these brave Blue Helmets killed in the service of peace in Mali”.
-Mahamat Saleh Annadif, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the MINUSMA Mission.
There have been 13 Chadian UN Peacekeepers killed in the 16 months while serving in MINUSMA. Three UN peacekeepers from Guinea were killed Feb. 20, 2019 near west African nation Mali’s capital city Bamako. According to the UN, Guinea is the eight largest contributor of troops to MINUSMA, with 869 women and men serving in it.
UN Chief Condemns Deadly Attack in Mali
UN Secretary-General António Guterres strongly condemned the improvised explosive device attacks against a convoy of the (MINUSMA) that killed three peacekeepers from Chad and seriously injured four others. “Such cowardly acts will not deter the United Nations from its resolve to continue supporting the people and Government of Mali in their pursuit of peace and stability,” he asserted. The Secretary-General called on Malian authorities to “spare no effort” in identifying the perpetrators so they can be swiftly brought to justice, recalling that attacks on ‘blue helmets’ may constitute war crimes under international law.
Credit: U.N. MINUSMA/Harandane Dicko / Guinean contingent of MINUSMA which is based in Kidal in the extreme north of Mali.
The terror threat in Mali continues unabated despite a massive deployment UN peacekeepers and French troops tasked with halting jihadist’s attacks. There have been 25 French soldiers confirmed killed since the start of Operation Barkhane, which was launched more than four years ago to quell jihadist activity in the former French colony of Mali and in neighbouring countries.
MINUSMA was established by Security Council resolution 2100 of 25 April 2013 to support political processes in that country and carry out a number of security-related tasks. In 2012, Islamist radicals linked to al-Qaeda hijacked an uprising by ethnic Tuareg people and went on to seize cities across northern Mali, holding on for nearly a year until they were forced out by a French military intervention, according to the Washington Post. When the 11,000 U.N. troops arrived in 2013, they were meant to protect a fledgling peace deal and train the Malian army. But Islamist extremists regrouped across the region. It did not take long before the militants started targeting peacekeepers, whom they dubbed “Crusader occupation forces.”
