GAO, MALI - MARCH 07: A Bangladeshi United Nations soldier walks by a car during the weekly cattle market on March 7, 2017 in Gao, Mali. Each week locals and Touareg nomads gather at the market to trade their cattle including Camels, Cows, Sheep and clothing. U.N.-led MINUSMA (United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission) troops are assisting the Malian government in its struggle against rebels that include a Tuareg movement (MNLA) and several Islamic armed groups, among them Al-Qaeda, in the north of Mali. Rebels have conducted a series of terror attacks to destabilize the current government in recent years. The Bundeswehr has committed helicopters and 750 soldiers to the MINUSMA mission as well as 147 soldiers to the EUTM mission (European Trainings Mission Mali) to train government troops. In mid-April the Bundeswehr is to deploy four «Tiger«combat helicopter. (Photo by Alexander Koerner/Getty Images) 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.