The peacekeepers will not leave Mali immediately. The UN Security Council decided on Wednesday to extend the MINUSMA peacekeeping mission in the country by one year. However, as in the past, this will be done without French air support, which could make European countries abandon this international force of 13,289 soldiers and 1,920 police officers.
“It’s a risk,” agrees a diplomat on condition of anonymity, alluding to maintaining German or UK involvement in this 2013-created operation that has since become the deadliest of ONU’s missions.
Report expected in January
A resolution drafted by France to extend Minusma until June 30, 2023 was adopted by 13 votes out of 15, with Russia and China abstaining. Moscow justified its abstention with human rights “obtrusive formulations” of the text, which are contrary to Malian sovereignty.
The document provides for the maintenance of current troops and calls on peacekeepers to support the application of the 2015 peace accord, a political transition, the return of state authority to the center, the protection of civilians and human rights. A report is also requested from the UN Secretary-General in January to possibly adjust Minusma’s format and examine the development of its relations with the military junta in power.
Bamako had asserted in early June that while the French army was in the process of withdrawing from Mali, there was no question of allowing Paris to continue operating its planes based in Chad on its territory. On Monday, the head of Malian diplomacy, Abdoulaye Diop, reiterated that French air support for peacekeepers constitutes “a red line”. Paris took note of this position and withdrew from its original draft resolution any mention of maintaining French air support.
Wagner hardly singled out
The adopted resolution has in its preamble only a small mention of the controversial presence of mercenaries from the private Russian company Wagner, denied by Bamako, which only allows help from “trainers” under an old bilateral agreement with Moscow. The UN condemns “the use of mercenaries and the violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses committed by them,” the text reads, without citing Wagner by name, as requested by the United States and the Kingdom.
The resolution retains in its mandate human rights protections, which the Malian authorities, with support from Moscow and Beijing, have sought to reduce. In recent months, NGOs have accused Malian forces and their Russian backers, including Wagner’s mercenaries, of atrocities.