Mali junta upholds UN peacekeepers' departure, sends more troops north

While the UN voiced concern over an escalation of fighting in in Azawad in northern Mali, the Malian foreign minister Abdoulaye Diop said this weekend that the withdrawal of United Nations peacekeepers from the region would go ahead before 31 December.

Senegalese soldiers of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali MINUSMA patrol in the streets of Gao, on 24 July 2019. © Souleymane Ag Anara / AFP

"Heightened tensions and the increasingly hostile presence of armed groups in northern Mali are likely to impede the departure of the UN Stabilisation Mission there (MINUSMA)," the UN wrote in a note to correspondents issued on Saturday.

L’ONU s’inquiète des tensions accrues dans le nord du Mali qui risquent de retarder le départ de la MINUSMA https://t.co/GrKMLG6BNd

— MINUSMA (@UN_MINUSMA) October 15, 2023

Since late August, rival armed groups have been seeking to seize territory, while the UN mission there is about to pull out.

The junta in power in Bamako has responded by sending an influx of troops there.

• Latest attack by Tuareg rebels signals northern Mali is back at war
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The departure of MINUSMA by the end of 2023 is part of an ongoing security plan launched by the military junta, which seized power in 2020.

Departure schedule maintained

The junta insists that they will stick to the departure schedule as planned.

"Everything must be done to ensure the work of MINUSMA is ended by 31 December," Mali's foreign minister Abdoulaye Diop said in a video posted on social media on Saturday evening.

"The government does not foresee any extension of this deadline," he added.

En images, mes propos liminaires lors de la rencontre d'informations, le vendredi 13 octobre 2023, organisée à l’intention du Corps diplomatique accrédité au Mali. pic.twitter.com/ijuSZsIljF

— Amb. Abdoulaye Diop (@AbdoulayeDiop8) October 14, 2023

The UN also said the ruling junta had not given it permits to send in convoys to retrieve its equipment from its bases there.

Diop replied that he was aware the UN had requested authorisation to send in logistics convoys by road to remove equipment from its northern bases and conduct air operations to protect the drawdown.

"We are working to find solutions," he replied.

Further fighting in the north

In northern Mali, also known as Azawad, the Tuaregs' name for the region, fighting has increased between groups who have left the peace process with Bamako and the junta's troops.

The jihadist Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), which is affiliated to Al-Qaeda, has also stepped up attacks on Malian army posts.

The Tuareg separatists are opposed to MINUSMA handing over its bases to the Malian military.

Locals, experts and international observers fear that violence could escalate with the departure of UN peacekeepers from their camps in Tessalit, Aguelhok and the separatists stronghold of Kidal.

According to RFI's correspondent in the Sahel region, Serge Daniel, most UN convoys have been unable to move out of Gao or Timbuktou. 

Map of Azawad, in northern Mali Anthony Terrade/RFI

"Since the announcement of our withdrawal from Mali, we have wanted it to be orderly and secure, because our security is very important. More MINUSMA's soldiers have been killed in Mali than in any other UN peacekeeping mission throughout the world. We therefore cannot allow our staff to be killed," spokesperson Fatoumata Sinkoun Kaba told RFI.

Local officials also told French news agency AFP that Russian mercenaries have begun arriving in the north, to replace Malian soldiers and UN peacekeepers.

 (with newswires)