This content was published on June 29, 2023 – 4:58 pm. Jun 29, 2023 – 4:58 p.m
United Nations, 29 June (EFE). – The United Nations is in contact with the government of Mali to ensure an “orderly withdrawal” of the mission that has been stationed in the country for the past decade, spokesman Farhan Haq told a news conference for Minusma the organization today.
The mission’s mandate expires tomorrow, Friday, and will not be extended at the express request of the Malian government. This has called for an “immediate” withdrawal of the mission, which currently has more than 17,000 members and is one of the largest in the world. .
The Security Council is meeting tomorrow, presumably to pass a specific resolution setting out the process for withdrawing the Minusma, setting a time limit of six months, according to leaked information from diplomatic sources.
When asked by the spokesman if that period was realistic, Haq limited himself to acknowledging that circumstances vary from country to country and that there have been other instances of exits in the past. However, he insisted that it was up to the council to set the limits as it defined the arrival of peacekeeping missions.
Western diplomatic sources have been very skeptical that the withdrawal can be completed in just six months and put a realistic scenario of closer to 18 months; If that were the case, one can only guess how the Malian government will react.
Haq stated that Minusma arrived in Mali at the request of that country’s government and will leave with a similar request; Although Haq did not specify, the government demanding his resignation is a coup military junta that overthrew the previous government of Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, which had called for the use of Minusma.
The Bamako military junta came to power with a decidedly anti-Western discourse, first taking shape in the abrupt withdrawal of French forces and then in the demand for the withdrawal of the Minusma; At the same time, it has led to the Russian force of Wagner mercenaries being stationed in the country, whose activities in Mali are carried out with very little transparency. EFE
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