2023-10-15 00:06:10
The United Nations expressed concern on Saturday regarding “intensifying tensions and a growing armed presence in northern Mali.” The departure of the UN mission (Minusma), scheduled for December 31, might be delayed.
Published on: 15/10/2023 – 02:06
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Faced with the military escalation in northern Mali, the United Nations (UN) expressed its concern on Saturday October 14 regarding the ongoing withdrawal of the UN mission (Minusma). According to her, the difficulties caused by the junta are likely to call into question the departure schedule of the Blue Helmets.
The colonels who came to power by force in 2020 demanded in June, following months of deterioration in relations, the departure of Minusma, deployed since 2013.
The withdrawal from the camps it occupied exacerbated rivalries for control of territory between armed actors present in the north, with predominantly Tuareg separatist groups resuming hostilities once morest the central state and the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM) affiliated with Al-Qaeda increasing attacks once morest military positions.
Read alsoDeparture of Minusma: between Mali and the UN mission, a divorce has become inevitable
The confrontation risks worsening in the coming weeks with the planned evacuation of the Minusma camps in Tessalit, Aguelhok and especially Kidal, a stronghold town of the separatists. A large army column took the road towards Kidal.
A departure schedule called into question
“The United Nations is seriously concerned by the intensification of tensions and a growing armed presence in northern Mali,” they said in a press release sent by Minusma. These conditions “risk preventing the orderly and timely departure” of Minusma, they warn. The UN mission must have left the country by December 31.
They also threaten “to jeopardize the safe transfer of United Nations personnel and assets belonging to troop-contributing countries and the United Nations”, they say.
The UN “notes with deep concern that, since September 24, its logistics convoys have not been allowed to leave the town of Gao to collect equipment from the United Nations and troop-contributing countries currently in Aguelhok, Tessalit and Kidal. “This might have a significant impact on the Mission’s ability to meet the scheduled timetable,” they warn. The UN is concerned regarding the risk of having to leave without recovering the equipment.
She underlines that the Security Council resolution ending the mandate of Minusma in June “calls on the transitional government of Mali to cooperate fully with the United Nations in order to ensure the orderly and safe withdrawal of the Mission.”
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