According to the international organisation, the peacekeeping mission is in serious risk because of Ber’s deteriorating security situation.
The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) declared on Sunday that it had accelerated the evacuation of its base in the northern town of Ber due to deteriorating security situations.
The peacekeeping mission claimed the “deterioration of security in the area” poses a significant risk to its blue helmet personnel operating there in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.
It continued, “[MINUSMA] strongly advises all parties to refrain from taking any steps that would make the operation more difficult.
Following the transitional government’s desire that the mission be terminated as soon as possible, the UN Security Council decided in June to complete the withdrawal of the peacekeeping forces from Mali at the end of the year.
Tensions between the military authorities and the CMA have increased with the withdrawal of the MINUSMA mission, which was established in 2013 to assist in battling Islamist insurgencies in the Sahel nation. As of February of this year, the UN stated that more than 11,000 soldiers and 1,600 police officers had been deployed.
The Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA), a former rebel organisation, was the target of battles between Friday and Sunday, according to the Malian Armed Forces (FaMa), which announced that seven soldiers had died and at least eight had been hurt.
In response to a “attempted incursion” on their position by “armed terrorist groups” on Friday, the statement claims that the state forces “retaliated,” and that 28 rebels died as a result of the conflict. The army said that it had taken over Ber as part of the handover of locations held by the UN peacekeeping force.
The UN mission stated their convoy that “withdrew from Ber” had been “attacked twice,” with three wounded peacekeepers being flown to Timbuktu for medical attention, in another statement following the announcement of its decision to withdraw its troops.
In accordance with international law, attacks on peacekeepers “may constitute war crimes,” it stated.
In the meantime, the FaMa and Wagner Group PMC were accused of opening fire on one of the CMA’s sites near the town of Ber on Friday, according to the CMA, a coalition of Tuareg ethnically dominant factions demanding autonomy from the Malian state.
In violation of a 2014 ceasefire and security agreement, the former rebel group alleged in a statement, “FaMa is taking whatever it costs to occupy MINUSMA companies, including those located in the CMA-controlled areas.”
The Malian government and the CMA signed the Algiers peace accord in May 2014 to put an end to a cycle of Tuareg uprisings that had occurred since Mali got independence from France in 1960.
