United Nations (EFE).- The UN Security Council unanimously approved this Friday the end of the peace mission in Mali (Minusma), which has been present in the country for the last ten years, at the express request of the Government from Mali.
His mandate expired precisely today, so from this Friday the new mandate is only to organize his withdrawal.
The draft resolution, presented by France, provides for a withdrawal period of six months, longer than the three months requested by the Government of the African country, but less than what the UN experts consider realistic to be able to get the 13,000 out of the country. soldiers and 4,000 civilian agents of the mission.
Minusma has been one of the deadliest missions deployed around the world this decade, with 304 victims in violent actions, almost all of them killed in attacks by jihadist groups present in various regions of Mali.
The UN asks Mali for guarantees for the transition
The resolution includes the need for the Government of Mali to guarantee the security of the members of Minusma in this transition period, as well as their freedom of movement, but in recent days situations of harassment against some of the soldiers have been detected, according to the representative of the United States denounced in the Council.
According to the resolution, the assets – buildings, vehicles, heavy weapons – must be repatriated in an orderly manner by the Minusma and the Malian government must collaborate in their dismantling, preventing them from falling into the hands of other actors, which the United States representative identified as the group Russian Wagner and extremist groups operating in the country.
The countries that took the floor after the American insisted that they regretted the withdrawal of the Minusma at a time of such instability in Mali, and that the six-month withdrawal period was unrealistic, but they said they had voted in favor as the only way to achieve an orderly and safe withdrawal.
One of the most contentious points, such as the protection of the civilian population, a competence that Bamako wanted to remove from Minusma immediately, was settled with a compromise solution: the blue helmets will be able to protect civilians until October, and from that date , that task will fall solely to the Malian government.