UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The UN Security Council voted unanimously on Friday to immediately end a peacekeeping operation in Mali, as demanded by the country’s military junta.
Mali, struggling with an Islamic insurgency for more than a decade, has seen its relations with the international community strained in part because the current ruling junta brought in mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group. Wagner mercenaries were also engaged in Moscow’s war in Ukraine and were part of a short-lived mutiny against the Russian military last week.
The resolution adopted on Friday ends the mandate of the peacekeeping mission known as MINUSMA effective Friday and directs it to begin the cessation of operations on Saturday, including transferring some tasks and withdrawing its more than 15,000 men “with the objective of completing this process by December”. 31. 2023.”
Mali has been struggling to contain an extremist Islamic insurgency since 2012. Extremist rebels were ousted from power in the West African nation’s northern towns the following year, with the help of a French-led military operation. But they regrouped in the desert and began to launch attacks against the Malian army and its allies.
UN peacekeepers arrived a few months later in what has become one of the most dangerous UN missions in the world. At least 170 peacekeepers have been killed in the country since 2013, according to the UN
The council’s action followed a request from Mali’s foreign minister, Abdoulaye Diop, to the Security Council on June 16, asking MINUSMA to leave the country.
Diop claimed that the peacekeepers had failed in their mission and were sowing distrust among the population.
The UN needs the support of governments to make its peacekeeping missions work.
Mali was ruled by a military junta following two coups, starting in 2020, led by Colonel Assimi Goita, who now rules the country.