BAMAKO, Mali: The peacekeeping mission of the United Nations in Mali on Friday handed over its last camp to the local authorities.
The United Nations Stabilisation Mission (MINUSMA) had been in the African state since 2013 but ended on December 31 after Mali’s military leaders ordered it to leave amid deteriorating ties. It had previously kept around 15,000 soldiers and police in the West African nation.
The UN flag was lowered in camp on the outskirts of the capital Bamako which served as MINUSMA’s main operational base and home to its headquarters.
The camp “has played a crucial role in achieving the objectives of MINUSMA”, said UN Under-Secretary-General Atul Khare at the ceremony.
“The mission was not in a position to meet the pressing, existential expectations of the Malian people, who had placed so much hope in it,” said Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop but expressed gratitude to the peacekeepers.
MINUSMA was tasked with protecting civilians and human rights. The Mali rulers have insisted on the mission to leave the country, leading the UN Security Council to terminate MINUSMA’s mandate.
More than 180 MINUSMA members were killed in attacks, mostly blamed on armed groups linked to Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group in recent years, AFP reported.
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Meanwhile, according to BNN Bloomberg, the remaining United Nations mission in Mali will start leaving on Friday to bring an end to the 11-year-old peacekeeping mission.
In June last year, the Security Council unanimously voted in favour of a French-sponsored resolution to end the mission, following Mali’s demand for the peacekeepers to leave because it didn’t trust them any longer.
Mali has been under military rule for four years ago, when then Colonel Assimi Goita ousted the West African nation’s president, citing the previous government’s failure to restore peace in the country. Goita elevated himself to the rank of general in October.
