After a standoff, Mali authorizes UN troop rotations

Last updated on August 16th, 2022 at 03:59 pm

Trooper rotations for the United Nations Mission in Mali (UNMIS), which have been halted for the past month due to political difficulties between Bamako and its partners, will begin again on Monday with a new permission system. This comes after the UNMIS had already been suspended. “UNMISMA has ratified the new operating procedures and has shared this information with all of the nations who are supplying troops.” According to Minister Abdoulaye Diop, there are not going to be any exceptions.

Myriam Dessables, a spokeswoman for the 12,261-strong Minusma and the 1,718 police officers, said that it is anticipated that the rotations will start back up again this Monday. Before, “We would receive direct communication from them (the contingents). That behavior will no longer be tolerated. All requests have to go through Minusma, which is responsible for validating them and then delivering them to the Department of Foreign Affairs in the form of a verbal note, “according to the head of Mali’s diplomatic mission.” Due to the “national security context,” the rotations of the military and police contingents of the Minusma were put on hold on July 14 for an undetermined amount of time, and the decision was made to continue this hold.

In response to the most recent refusal of over flight by the Malian authorities, Germany said on Friday that it would be suspending “until further notice” the majority of its military operations in Mali as part of the United Nations Mission (MINUSMA). Even though Malian Defense Minister Sadio Camara told his German counterpart Christine Lambrecht the opposite during a phone call on Thursday, the request for an over flight was denied, he said.

“The Germans are required to act in accordance with the new protocols.” Their defense minister has not wasted any time in making the announcement that they will be suspending their operations. This does not have an impact on us. “Mr. Diop had a response. “Our position is crystal clear. In matters pertaining to the sovereignty of the nation and its security, we do not make concessions. “He proceeded further. On Saturday, Bamako also asked Germany to “resubmit its application for rotation within the limits of this system through the Minusma.”

Mali is currently run by a junta that kicked out the country’s former ally, France, and is now working closely with Moscow to stop the spread of jihadists to the country’s center and to Burkina Faso and Niger, which are next door. This move was made in an effort to stem the tide of jihadists that has spread to these countries. Mali’s relationship with the United Nations, which has had peacekeepers in the country since 2013, has also gotten worse in the past few weeks.

Olivier Salgado, the spokesman for the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (UNMIS), was kicked out of the organization for publishing “inappropriate information” in response to the arrest of 49 Ivorian soldiers in Bamako on July 10. According to Abidjan, the United Nations was the organization that the soldiers, whom Bamako referred to as “mercenaries,” were working for. They continue to be held in Bamako at this time.

It took four days following their capture for the UNMIS to announce that the rotations of their troops would be suspended. The next day, Egypt said that it was pulling its 1,035 soldiers out of the United Nations Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), whose mission had been extended for another year on June 29.

Alongside this renewal was Mali’s “strong objection” to the freedom of movement of peacekeepers for the purpose of human rights investigations. In January, Denmark made the announcement that its soldiers who were serving with the European Special Forces group Takuba would be returning home. Bamako argued that their deployment had been unnecessary and “occurred without their consent.”