The United Nations Mission in Mali (Minusma) announced on Sunday August 13 that it had “anticipated”, for security reasons, its withdrawal from a camp in the north of the country, which the army claims to have recovered “after numerous incidents” with “terrorist” groups and despite the covetousness of the former Tuareg rebellion.

“The Minusma has anticipated its withdrawal from Ber due to the deterioration of security in the area and the high risks that this poses to our blue helmets”, she explains in a message on X (formerly Twitter), without precision on the initial departure date and the workforce. It “invites the various actors concerned to refrain from any act which could further complicate the operation”.

Ber’s departure from the Burkinabe blue helmets who occupied it was scheduled as part of the withdrawal of Minusma from this country by the end of the year, with a first departure on August 3 in Ogossagou (center) that the army, in a press release published Sunday evening, said to control since.

The Minusma thus applies the decision taken at the end of June by the UN Security Council to put an immediate end to the mission deployed since 2013, at the request of the junta which came to power by force in 2020. The withdrawal of some 11 600 soldiers and 1,500 police officers of dozens of nationalities must be spread out until December 31.

In a press release Sunday evening, the Malian army (FAMA) affirms that, “as part of the process of retrocession of the rights of way of the Minusma, it took possession of the camp of Ber Sunday around 08:30 (local and GMT) after numerous incidents that marred the movement of [his] units”. On the way to Ber to recover the camp, she reports various incidents with “the GAT” (armed terrorist groups) including “an attempted incursion into the device and harassing fire” against his troops on Friday and other ” clashes” resulting in a total of “six dead and four wounded” in its ranks. “Sporadic shooting” targeted soldiers advancing towards Ber on Sunday, according to the same text, which does not specify the identity of the attackers.

“Leave and not concede”

The Ber area has also been the scene of tensions for several days opposing, on the one hand, the army and the Russian paramilitary group Wagner and, on the other hand, the Coordination of the movements of Azawad (CMA, ex-rebellion Tuareg), according to the latter organization.

The Minusma must “simply leave [from Ber] and not concede” the camp to the army, said Sunday on X, Attaye Ag-Mohamed, a CMA official. “The FAMA are determined at all costs to occupy the rights of way of the Minusma, including those located in the areas under the control of the CMA,” said the former rebellion, which controls large areas in the north, in a press release sent on Saturday. at AFP.

The gap has widened with the junta that the CMA accuses of questioning the 2015 Algiers peace agreement that it signed with Bamako. The CMA also criticizes the military for having had a new Constitution approved in June, compromising, according to it, this agreement. In a new sign of tension, she said on Friday that she had “repelled a complex attack led by the FAMA and Wagner”, in a statement released the same day, without a report. She announced on Thursday the departure from Bamako of all her representatives for “security” reasons, further widening the gap with the junta which she accuses of questioning the Algiers agreement.

The junta has made sovereignty its mantra since taking over the country, breaking the alliance with France and its partners against jihadism, to turn militarily and politically to Russia.

Since 2012, Mali has been in the grip of a deep security crisis that started in the north and which has spread to the center of the country as well as to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.