THE U.N. Security Council is set to vote on Friday to end a decade-long peacekeeping mission in Mali after the West African country’s military junta abruptly asked two weeks ago for the 13,000-strong force to leave “without delay.”
The planned end of the operation, known as MINUSMA, follows years of tensions and government restrictions that have hobbled peacekeeping air and ground operations since Mali teamed up with Russia’s Wagner mercenary group in 2021.
U.N. peacekeepers are credited with playing a vital role in protecting civilians against an Islamist insurgency that has killed thousands. Some experts fear the security situation could worsen when the mission departs, leaving Mali’s under-equipped army alone with about 1,000 Wagner fighters to combat militants who control swaths of territory in the desert north and centre.
“It’s a Malian decision and we need to find the least horrible way to implement it,” said a Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Mali’s government has not responded to requests for comment.
When asking for MINUSMA to leave, Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop told the Security Council earlier this month that there was a “crisis of confidence” between the U.N. operation and the Malian authorities.
