The interim government in Mali said on Sunday that it had given the head of the human rights department in the United Nations peacekeeping mission, MINUSMA, 48 hours to leave the country, after declaring him persona non grata.
In a statement, it said that the decision to expel Guillaume Njefa Atunduku Andali is linked to what it described as his biased selection of civil society witnesses in the UN Security Council sessions on Mali, the last of which was held on January 27.
Members of the UN Security Council stressed at the time the impossibility of continuing the "status quo" of the MINUSMA mission, during a meeting that revealed divisions over how to develop its work.
Al-Qasim Wan, head of the United Nations Mission in Mali, said that the security situation in the country is complex, and armed groups still retain the ability to launch complex and coordinated operations despite the intensive efforts of the Malian government forces.
The council considered for the first time the report of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, which confirms that the continuation of the mission in its current form is "not possible" without increasing the number of soldiers, indicating the need to withdraw the forces if the basic conditions for their survival are not met.
The council must take a decision next June on the extension of the UN mission.