Mali

Les autorités maliennes n'hésitent pas à renvoyer des représentants onusiens pour faire comprendre qu'elles ne tolèrent aucune critique, au niveau national et international, de leur politique pro-russe.

In a strategic shift, the Malian authorities have turned away from France and chosen Russia as their main military ally. Relations between Bamako and other Western and regional partners are also deteriorating. Mali and its partners should work to rebuild more balanced diplomatic relations.

While on a trip to Mali, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced more military support for the Malian military junta. Moscow says it will assist Mali in its bid to defeat an Islamist insurgency in the Sahel.

The UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday he deeply regrets Mali’s recent decision to declare the top UN human rights representative as persona non grata.

Top UN-appointed independent rights experts on Tuesday called on the authorities in Mali to launch an immediate probe into the mass execution of civilians last year, allegedly by Government forces and the Russia-based private military contractor, the Wagner Group.

Mali mission currently unsustainable says representative.

Defence Minister Boris Pistorius is considering withdrawing Germany's troops from the U.N. stabilisation mission in Mali earlier than planned, since under current conditions they cannot fulfill their mandate, he told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung in comments published on Monday.

Mali’s foreign minister defended the military government’s cooperation with Russia on Friday and rejected three options proposed by the U.N. chief to reconfigure the U.N. peacekeeping force in the west African country where Al-Qaida and Islamic State extremist groups are driving insecurity.

Mali’s military rulers received more warplanes and helicopters from Russia Thursday, an AFP correspondent noted, the latest in a series of deliveries from its new top military and political ally.

The UN Secretary-General proposes three options for the reconfiguration of MINUSMA (No 65 ff): Option 1: full capacity to implement the Mission’s mandate in its entirety across all areas of its deployment; Option 2: maintaining focus on the strategic priorities with a consolidated footprint; Option 3: withdrawal of uniformed units and conversion into a special political mission.