Published on : 14/07/2022 – 15:44
In Mali, the case of the Ivorian soldiers arrested on July 10 continues to generate new twists. They are still being held by Bamako, which considers them “mercenaries” and intends to bring them to justice, while Abidjan claims that they are regular soldiers deployed in support of the United Nations Mission in the country, with the status of NSE, National Support Elements. It is in this context that the Malian government announces the suspension of all military rotations of Minusma.
Initially, the United Nations had confirmed the status of the Ivorian soldiers before turning back. The UN confirms that an agreement on this NSE status was indeed concluded in 2019 with Abidjan, but that no Ivorian soldier deployed since in the field would have been under this agreement. A confusing situation in which this new announcement from the Malian authorities comes.
The decision is effective immediately: all rotations of military and police contingents of Minusma, including those already scheduled or announced », are suspended. It is a note from the Malian Ministry of Foreign Affairs which served this Thursday at the Minusma. The UN Mission has approximately 15,000 soldiers and police in Mali, provided by around fifty contributing countries from all over the world.
The rotations, that is to say the shifts, departures and arrivals of these men, are therefore frozen, as of this Thursday. And this until the holding of a coordination meeting “, the date of which has not yet been set, and during which the Malian authorities and the Minusma will have to “ come up with an optimal plan » pour « facilitate rotation coordination and regulation » UN contingents.
A more than radical decision, taken when the case of the 49 arrested Ivorian soldiers Last Sunday came to highlight a certain disorganization, or at least a lack of clarity, in the arrival in Mali of foreign soldiers. The Malian government assures that it will work ” diligently in order to quickly lift this measure and allow the UN contingents to carry out their mission.
Minusma blue helmets are deployed throughout the country to try to secure the inhabitants and support the political process.
