The UN Security Council on Friday voted to end a ten-year-old peacekeeping mission in Mali, as requested by the country’s military junta.
The French-drafted resolution, passed 15-0, ordered the mission known as MINUSMA to begin immediately with the withdrawal of over 15,000 troops.
The withdrawal is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
The vote came two weeks after Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop called the UN operation a “failure” and called for its end.
Mali’s relations with the United Nations and western nations have deteriorated sharply since a military coup in the country in 2020.
The military regime also broke off defense cooperation with the former colonial power France.
Did Wagner influence Mali’s change?
Instead, the junta has backed Russia and brought the Wagner paramilitary group on board.
The mercenaries were also involved in Moscow’s war in Ukraine and last week were part of a short-lived mutiny against the Russian military led by Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The US accused Prigozhin of helping to end the UN mission.
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Prigozhin “helped” the withdrawal of peacekeeping forces to “advance Wagner’s interests,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in Washington.
“We know that senior Malian officials worked directly with Prighozin officials to inform the UN Secretary-General that Mali revoked consent to the MINUSMA mission,” he said.
German troops should withdraw faster, Russia promises support
After the vote, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said her country’s troops would withdraw from Mali faster than Berlin originally planned.
“The Bundeswehr will now withdraw faster and in an orderly manner
“The abrupt end of the entire UN mission is bitter news for the people of Mali, to whom the mission has given protection and hope.”
British Ambassador to the UN, Barbara Woodward, expressed regret that Mali wanted peacekeeping forces to withdraw at a time when the region was “confronted with increasing instability and humanitarian needs”.
“And we do not believe that the partnership with the Wagner Group will bring long-term stability or security to the Malian people,” she said.
Shortly after the vote, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Diop and promised Mali “relentless support” in the military, humanitarian and economic spheres, the foreign ministry in Bamako said.
Mali faces formidable security challenges
Mali has been in turmoil for more than a decade, witnessing military coups and plagued by acute security concerns.
The situation is particularly bad in the northern and central parts of the country.
There, militants who have sworn allegiance to the terrorist groups “Islamic State” or al-Qaeda control large areas.
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A French-led military operation in 2013 helped the government regain control of the country’s northern cities from extremist rebels.
However, they regrouped in the desert and began launching attacks on the Malian army and its allies.
A few months later, the UN peacekeeping mission began.
It was one of the most dangerous missions and the most costly for the UN at $1.2 billion a year.
Since its inception in 2013, many peacekeepers have died.
Around 13,000 soldiers and police officers were deployed to Mali as part of the operation.
sri/lo (AFP, AP, Portal, dpa)