(Credit: UNMINUSMA) Fermeture le 28/12 du camp de #Tombouctou. Engagés à finaliser le processus de liquidation dans les délais les plus courts possibles.
DIPLOMATIC TIMES STAFF
The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) made a complete withdrawal from west African nation Mali Sunday after a decade of peacekeeping efforts. Despite the presence of 13,000 UN peacekeeping troops, Mali has descended into an endless cycle of instability amid a military coup, on-going extremist attacks, and Russian mercenaries operating in the Sahel country. MINUSMA was the deadliest UN peacekeeping operation in the world with more than 300 “blue helmets” killed since the mission began. In 2022, France withdrew 5,100 soldiers in the Sahel as part of its Operation Barkhane mission. Last June, Mali’s transitional government requested the withdrawal of MINUSMA by the end of the year. The departure of troops was ordered by Mali’s transitional administration under Col. Assimi Goita, who came to power in 2021 following a coup. Goita accuses the UN of being responsible for failing to bring peace to Mali despite deploying thousands of soldiers. The UN Security Council then unanimously adopted a resolution terminating MINUSMA’s previous mandate and requesting the transfer of its tasks as well as the safe and orderly drawdown and withdrawal of the Mission by 31 December 2023.
“MINUSMA seems to have become part of the problem by fueling community tensions exacerbated by extremely serious allegations which are highly detrimental to peace, reconciliation and national cohesion in Mali”.
-Mali Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop told the UN Security Council June 16, 2023.
MINUSMA in Africa was the most dangerous UN peacekeeping operation in the world / (credit: un.org)
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.”
UN Says MINUSMA Has Helped Mali Achieve Greater Security and Peace
El-Ghassum Wane, outgoing Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of MINUSMA believes the mission delivered important results, particularly when it comes to the protection of civilians.
“I think our work impacted the lives of many civilians in Mali,” Wane said. Wane also said the mission provided sustained political support of all efforts that were underway to build the peace process.
