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After Great Britain earlier this week, Côte d’Ivoire announces the gradual withdrawal of its soldiers and police officers engaged in Minusma, the UN Mission in Mali. A total of 850 elements deployed since 2014.
Officially, points out the Ivorian news site Yeclo« the Ivorian authorities have not explained the reasons for this withdrawal. Nevertheless, he specifies, relations had been tense between Mali and Côte d’Ivoire since the arrest of 49 Ivorian soldiers in Bamako on July 10, accused of being mercenaries by the Malian authorities. »
Pour L’Infodrome, another Ivorian news site, it is clear: it is indeed the affair of the soldiers detained in Mali that motivated Abidjan’s decision. Indeed, so far, the talks between the two countries have yielded little or nothing. ” Several mediations took place under the leadership of Togo, remember The Infodrome. Three female soldiers were able to regain their freedom and return to Abidjan. (Then) unfortunately, the negotiations gave birth to a mouse. Exasperated, continues the site, Côte d’Ivoire has (therefore) decided to end its participation in peacekeeping missions in Mali. »
Abidjan scalded…
In fact, believe to know Young Africa« on the Ivorian side, it has been several months since the reflection on a withdrawal of the Minusma was initiated. On the same line as its European partners, the Ivorian government was irritated by the decision of the Malian transitional authorities to break with France and the European Union to get closer to Russia, in particular by calling on mercenaries from the private military company Wagner. The arrest of 49 Ivorian soldiers at Bamako airport on July 10 obviously did not help matters. At the time, specify again JA, some of his relatives – especially among the military – had even urged Alassane Ouattara to immediately withdraw his troops from the Minusma in retaliation. The Ivorian president had finally not yielded to it, and had maintained his peacekeepers with his neighbor. But the continued detention of soldiers has only further strained relations between Abidjan and Bamako. »
A “gaping wound”
« The Ivorian contingent packs up », notes for his part The Software in Bamako. « The wound between Bamako and Abidjan is becoming more and more open, says the Malian site. While the two capitals are in the midst of a crisis since the outbreak of the affair of the 49 Ivorian soldiers, the Ivorian Government announces (therefore) the withdrawal of its troops from the Minusma. »
« A withdrawal variously appreciated in Bamako », raises Maliweb who cites some reactions gleaned from social networks: “the UN troops in Mali will leave on their own, one after the other » ; « very well, when all the enemies of peace have left Mali, peace will reign forever ???????? or encore, a contrario : « Mali’s problem is not foreign forces, rather it is poor governance. That the rulers stop plundering! »
The beginning of the end for the Minusma?
So, ” is this the swan song for the Minusma? », wonders The country in Burkina Faso. ” It is difficult not to believe it with the announcement of the British and Ivorian withdrawal. When we know that after the departure of Barkhane, several other nations such as Sweden, Germany, Denmark and Benin had announced the departure of their troops, we can only be reinforced in the idea of the imminence of the end of the presence of blue helmets in the country of Assimi Goïta. “These withdrawals will add” to the diplomatic isolation of Mali, still esteem The Country, with heavy political, economic and social consequences. »
The Paalga Observer is on the same line: we know that the defense of the security and integrity of Mali is the business of the Malians themselves, but by working to create a vacuum around them, the Malian authorities are complicating a little more a situation which is not already not very good. Especially that despite its ‘rise in power’, if we believe the official vulgate of Koulouba, the Malian army is not able to fill the void left by its various partners. »