A UN Mission convoy in Mali arrived in the north-eastern city of Gao on the night of November 7, after a week-long journey, as part of the departure of peacekeepers from the volatile Kidal region.
The development is the latest step in the accelerated withdrawal process of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), which is due to leave Mali by the end of the year after a decade of operations.
According to a report by UN News, 143 vehicles left Kidal on October 31, and travelled nearly 350 kilometres, transporting 848 peacekeepers from Bangladesh, Chad, Egypt, Guinea and Nepal, as well as equipment.
The convoy, which was reportedly approximately nine kilometres long, encountered six improvised explosive devices along the way.
The report said thirty-seven members of the UN peacekeeping mission required medical attention, though all have since been discharged or are in stable condition.
The UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, which has been described as the deadliest place to serve as a UN “blue helmet” with more than 300 fatalities suffered by its members, is due to draw down fully by December 31, in accordance with its Security Council mandate.
With a budget of $1.2bn, MINUSMA is also the UN’s most expensive mission. Close to 13,000 uniformed personnel will be repatriated and civilian staff will leave while equipment is relocated to other missions or sent back to the countries which supplied items such as vehicles.
Despite the huge financial and human costs, Mali’s government has accused the mission of worsening the situation, leaving people distrustful of the UN in general.
“MINUSMA seems to have become part of the problem by fuelling community tensions exacerbated by extremely serious allegations which are highly detrimental to peace, reconciliation and national cohesion in Mali,” Mali’s minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, Abdoulaye Diop, once said.
MINUSMA repeatedly complained that restrictions by the Malian military junta on troop and aircraft movements prevented it from fulfilling its mandate. Sources in Mali say the political climate also helped to undermine the mission’s impact.
The military leadership has said it is able to guarantee the safety of Malians across the vast landlocked country but has given no details on its intended strategy to confront the multiple fronts of insurgency.
Analysts say MINUSMA’s exit will leave a large vacuum for the already overstretched Malian armed forces to fill as it would leave many communities across the north of the country vulnerable to jihadist attacks, and it will undermine the basic public administration and welfare and humanitarian programmes that the UN has been supporting.
