Mali: MINUSMA has left the Mopti base
The UN mission in Mali, MINUSMA, definitively left its base in Mopti-Sévaré, in the Centre, on Friday 8 December. The last peacekeepers who were present arrived at the end of the day in Gao, and the last civilians in Bamako. The Malian army and its Wagner proxies were already present in Mopti, located in an area where the CSP rebels have no pretensions. No attacks were reported during the evacuation, which was carried out smoothly. Mopti was the last remaining UN base before the official end of the mission.
A soldier from the Senegalese contingent of MINUSMA, in the Mopti region, on November 5, 2021. © Amaury Hauchard / AFP
By: David Baché
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A total of 47 civil society organizations in Mopti and several decentralized services of the Malian government were offered equipment, including generators or office equipment. These are farewell gifts from MINUSMA, after nine years of presence of peacekeepers from the Senegalese, Togolese, Egyptian and Bangladeshi contingents.
Located in the heart of the Katiba Macina area of influence of the al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), Mopti-Sévaré was one of the largest of MINUSMA's 12 bases in Mali – 13 if you count Bamako. The base was also the victim of a heavy terrorist attack last April. It was the part occupied by the Malian army and its Wagner auxiliaries that had been mainly targeted.
The official end of MINUSMA and the beginning of the "liquidation" phase
»Left behind, MINUSMA will announce the end of its activities in Mali next Monday, three weeks before the December 31 deadline, during an official ceremony at its headquarters in Bamako.
To date, more than 10,500 MINUSMA civilian and military personnel have left the country. About 3,000 are yet to follow.
However, some will remain present in Gao, Timbuktu and Bamako for the "liquidation" phase that will begin on 1 January, in accordance with the resolution agreed by the United Nations and the Malian transitional authorities last July. Inventories, contract closures, transfers of equipment to other peacekeeping missions around the world: during this phase, which is expected to last several months, MINUSMA will no longer have any mandate.
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