The end of the mandate of the Blue Helmets in Mali in a few days no longer seems to be in doubt, but the negotiations at the UN still come up against the timetable for their departure that Bamako wants “without delay”, according to diplomatic sources.
On June 16, taking everyone by surprise, Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdoulaye Diop, denouncing the “failure” of the UN mission (Minusma), had demanded before the Security Council its “withdrawal without delay” .
Under these conditions and while the Security Council was preparing to examine a renewal of the mandate, possibly modified, it is finally the pure and simple end of the most expensive mission of the UN (1.2 billion dollars per year ) which is on the table, plunging into the unknown a country struggling with jihadist attacks.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres had however deemed the continued presence of Minusma “invaluable” in early June, highlighting the fears of countries in the region of an “expansion of extremist groups” in the event of withdrawal.
But one of the principles of peacekeeping is the “consent” of the host country.
Thus, the last draft resolution distributed on Wednesday by France — in charge of the texts on Mali — to the other members of the Security Council, consists in “putting an end to the mandate of Minusma (…) from June 30, 2023”, according to the text seen by AFP.
The mission created in 2013, in particular to help stabilize a state threatened with collapse under jihadist pressure and to protect civilians, would cease its activities on July 1 to focus on its withdrawal, “with the objective of completing this process of here on December 31, 2023”.
“The (UN) secretariat has begun discussions and planning for an orderly exit, identifying the multiple aspects and layers of this massive and complex effort,” a peacekeeping spokesman told AFP on Wednesday. Peace. “Ensuring the constructive cooperation of the Malian authorities will be essential to facilitate this process.”
But according to several diplomatic sources, the Malian junta wants to shorten the proposed withdrawal period, while on the contrary some members of the Security Council fear that this six-month period is already too short to organize the safe departure of more than 12,000 soldiers and police.
“The UN is going to have to transport a lot of equipment out of the country by road. It doesn’t happen overnight,” commented Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group.
“Malians are probably worried that the UN is looking for ways to cling to Mali in hopes that Bamako will reverse its decision to kick the mission out. There is little trust on either side,” he said. told AFP.
“We really hope that by the end of the week we will be able to adopt a text which takes into account what Mali wants and which shows that there is no desire on the part of the UN to stay one more day. necessary,” a diplomatic source said on Wednesday. “But at the same time, we have no intention of compromising the security of peacekeeping personnel,” added this source, noting that “Russia supports Mali’s demands.”
The vote scheduled for Thursday was postponed to Friday to allow discussions to continue.
To be adopted, the resolution, which can still be modified, must obtain at least 9 votes in favor out of 15, without a veto from a permanent member (Russia, China, United States, United Kingdom, France).
Relations between Bamako and Minusma had largely deteriorated after the military took power in 2020.
The UN thus regularly denounced the obstacles of the Malian authorities to the movement of blue helmets and had to deal with the defections of troop-contributing countries, cooled by the multiplication of attacks against the mission, of which 174 blue helmets have been killed since 2013.
The junta, denouncing the attention paid to human rights, demanded for its part that the Minusma directly attack terrorist groups.
An argument taken up by Russia, towards which the Malian junta turned militarily and politically by moving away from France, a former colonial power.
06/29/2023 06:11:01 – United Nations (United States) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
