---
title: "Last UN Mission in Mali to Pack Out as 11-Year-Old Deployment Ends"
description: "(Bloomberg) -- The remaining United Nations mission in Mali will start leaving on Friday to bring an end to the 11-year-old peacekeeping mission that helped the country fight militants seeking to control parts of the country."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Newsdeck"
author: "Bloomberg"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/bloomberg/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-11-14-last-un-mission-in-mali-to-pack-out-as-11-year-old-deployment-ends/"
published: "2024-11-14T21:40:09"
updated: "2024-11-14T21:40:11"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 194
---

# Last UN Mission in Mali to Pack Out as 11-Year-Old Deployment Ends

> (Bloomberg) -- The remaining United Nations mission in Mali will start leaving on Friday to bring an end to the 11-year-old peacekeeping mission that helped the country fight militants seeking to control parts of the country.

By Bloomberg · Published 14 November 2024, 23:40 SAST · Updated 14 November 2024, 23:40 SAST

## Key points
- As the UN packs its bags and hands over the keys to Bamako's main camp, Mali's junta—now cozying up to Russian mercenaries—proves that when it comes to trust, sometimes it's better to trade peacekeepers for Kremlin-backed muscle.
- The UN's Minusma mission in Mali will officially hand over its main camp in Bamako to the junta authorities tomorrow.
- Deployed in 2013, the mission aimed to combat al-Qaeda and Islamic State-linked militants amid escalating violence.
- A unanimous UN Security Council vote in June 2022 marked the end of the mission, following Mali's distrust of peacekeepers.
- Since the junta's rise to power in 2020, ties with the West have soured, leading to increased Russian influence and the presence of Wagner Group mercenaries.

## Content

The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, also known as Minusma by its French acronym, will hand over its main camp in the capital, Bamako, to the country’s junta authorities tomorrow, a spokesperson for the organization said by phone.

The UN Security Council had deployed a 13,000 personnel-strong mission in the West African nation since 2013 to help contend with the militants linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

In June last year the Security Council unanimously voted in favor 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.

The junta that took power in 2020 cut ties with former allies in the West, and instead forged a closer relationship with Russia. Since then, mercenaries from the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group have been deployed to the country, while European forces and UN peacekeeping mission were forced to withdraw.

Mali has been under military rule since four years ago, when then Colonel Assimi Goita ousted the West African nation’s elected president, citing the previous regime’s failure to repel the Islamist insurgents. Goita elevated himself to the rank of general in October.