Mali: the authorities further restrict the scope of action of the Minusma

Minusma blue helmets during a patrol in the streets of Timbuktu, July 13, 2013. (illustration) AP - Rebecca Blackwell

Text by: David Baché

2 mins

According to information from RFI, the UN mission in Mali (Minusma) is prevented by the army from accessing the city of Djenné, while the Blue Helmets were planning to go there at the beginning of the week.

The latest episode in a long list that is beginning to seriously concern the UN mission.

Advertisement

Read more

The peacekeepers wanted to patrol Djenné, in the Mopti region, at the beginning of the week, to secure the weekly market.

But Sunday, May 15, the General Staff of the armies of Mali categorically prohibited the Minusma from deploying there.

A sovereign decision that a member of the UN mission deplores.

According to him, the Armed Forces of Mali (Fama) want to operate on the ground discreetly, alongside their Russian auxiliaries:

for the international community, simple instructors according to Bamako.

Requested by RFI, the communication of the Malian army explains that it has no information on this ban.

The Fama regularly carry out actions in this sector, where the jihadists of Katiba Macina – of

(Jnim), linked to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb – are particularly present.

The plastering of the Djenné mosque, scheduled for last weekend, has also been postponed for security reasons. 

The UN mission has been asking in vain for access to the village of Moura

, not far from Djenné, for a month and a half.

She wants to investigate the allegations of executions of several hundred civilians by the Malian army.

There would have been more than 300 according to testimonies collected by several human rights organizations.

The operation would have involved, according to many witnesses, Russian fighters.

The Malian authorities deny and assure that its soldiers operated alone and killed more than 200 jihadists.

Since mid-January, after the arrival of the first Russian fighters in Mali, a large no-fly zone has also been imposed in the center of the country and gradually expanded.

These restrictions worry the Minusma, which has noted " 

 ", according to a UN executive, since January.

This list, for the moment confidential, must be communicated to the Secretary General of the United Nations before the examination of the renewal of the mandate of Minusma, next month. 

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

• mali

• Assimi Goita

• UN