The UN Security Council has ended the peacekeeping mission of peacekeepers in Mali, a withdrawal that is expected to last six months.
The Security Council puts an end to the peacekeeping mission of blue helmets in Mali from this Friday (30.06.23).
The withdrawal operations will be spread over six months and must proceed in an orderly fashion until the mission withdraws completely from Mali.
Resolution 2690, adopted unanimously, stipulates that from tomorrow July 1, the peacekeepers will cease their activities to organize their departure “by December 31, 2023”.
For the smooth running of these operations, the members of the Council call on the Malian transitional authorities to cooperate with the United Nations so that the blue helmets, the police and the civilian personnel of the Minusma, deployed in the country since 2013, can leave the Mali in an orderly fashion.
Discussions then consensus
After several hours of discussions, the fifteen members of the Security Council, including France, the United States, Russia and China, have found a compromise. But the stakes are immense in terms of Mali’s internal security.
For Tidiani Togola, Malian expert in governance, if the two parties want to work for the stabilization of the region, they must review how to cooperate to achieve a result that could satisfy both Mali and its partners.
“If ever there are challenges that affect Mali and the country is unable to act effectively in the face of this, it would be important for the partners to understand this and to look at how they can support Mali because any instability in the Mali is synonymous with the instability of the entire sub-region, regardless of the new repositioning of the differences in forces in Niger”, considers Tidiani Togola.
It is under these conditions that the Security Council asked the Secretary General of the United Nations to initiate a dialogue with the Malian transitional government in order to draw up a plan for the transfer of the tasks of Minusma, taking into account the contribution of UN member countries, of which Germany is a member.
Diplomatic failure
On Friday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also indicated that the federal government had worked with its international partners and Mali’s direct neighbors.
She added that the safety of peacekeepers and German soldiers was the top priority.
But for Alexander Stroh, professor of political science and African studies at the University of Bayreuth, the request to leave Minusma is a diplomatic failure.
“Diplomats must understand that there needs to be even more dialogue with the political authorities of the countries where we are going. And you have to think about how to interact with the actors you don’t like, ”he says.
An unexpected breakup
A few days ago, before the announcement of the Malian junta, Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the UN, recommended maintaining the Minusma with constant numbers, refocusing it on limited priorities.
With the announcement of the withdrawal of Minusma, it will now be necessary to organize the withdrawal of more than 13,000 soldiers and police, as well as their equipment, from helicopters to armored vehicles.
Source: DW
