Mali asks UN to withdraw its peacekeepers
The UN Security Council is to make a decision on the mission’s mandate on June 29
Mali’s government has requested the UN Security Council to immediately withdraw the peacekeepers of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said on Friday.
“Unfortunately, MINUSMA seems to have become a part of the problem in fuelling inter-community tensions,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters. “This situation is begetting mistrust among the Malian population and also causing a crisis of confidence between Malian authorities and MINUSMA. The Malian government asks for the withdrawal, without delay, of MINUSMA.”
The UN Security Council is to make a decision on the mission’s mandate on June 29.
The MINUSMA was established in the spring of 2013 by a UN Security Council resolution to help Malian authorities strengthen security in the country. It currently has more than 15,000 employees. More than 280 mission’s employees have been killed in Mali since 2013.
