More resources need to help secure Mali, peacekeeping mission head tells Security Council — Global Issues
El-Ghassim Wane, Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), summarized Security Council on Thursday about recent developments in the African country.
“For the sake of the Malian people,” he said, MINUSMA should be given all the resources it requires to “bridge the gap between what it is required to do and what it can actually do. ”
Deadly attacks last month
He said March has seen a number of deadly attacks by so-called Islamic State in Great Sahara terrorist groups, around Menaka, and to the south, near Gao, resulting in the deaths of 40 civilians and the displacement of 3,640 households.
In response, MINUSMA increased patrols in Menaka to allow Mali’s security and defense forces to mobilize.
To the south of Gao, jihadists from armed groups continued their attacks in Tessit, including against the Malian armed forces.
The The UN mission has deployed three mobile special forces units between Ansongo, Labezanga and Tessit, while another is currently patrolling the border with Niger, and another is doing the same east of the Niger River.
Emphasizing that security incidents are happening in the context of the withdrawal of anti-terror forces from France and other European countries, he stressed the imperative to maintain the level of troops and be able to find out. solutions to the challenges posed by incompetence.
The Moura Massacre
Turning to reporting on serious human rights violations against civilians during the Malian armed forces’ counter-terrorism operation in Moura, he stressed the need for Malian government cooperates with Delegation so that it can access the site of the alleged violation.
Overall, the UN mission has opened 17 investigations into allegations of indiscriminate attacks on civilians, arrests of bystanders, ill-treatment, forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
No progress on political reform
On the political front, he said “no tangible progress“Had been done in the peace process. Instead, the past three months have been marked by “worrying actions and words” that contradict the 2015 peace agreement.
The 18-month political transition after the August 2020 coup will end in March, he said, adding that failure to complete the transition has left the Economic Community of Nations West Africa (ECOWAS) imposed economic and financial sanctions on Mali last January.
A transition agreement would allow sanctions to be lifted and create a more favorable environment for pursuing stability across Mali, he said. There is a “strong desire for peace and better governance”,” he said, calling on political stakeholders to internalize this sentiment and meet the expectations of their people.
