Mali Rebels Warn That the End of UN Peacekeeping Will Ruin Peace Accords

A coalition of armed groups in the country’s north has warned that the withdrawal of a U.N. peacekeeping operation from Mali will be a “fatal blow” to a peace agreement and undermine stability throughout the region.

However, the junta in Mali has demanded that the MINUSMA peacekeeping mission depart “without delay,” following years of deteriorating relations between the U.N. and Bamako’s military administration.

The Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security and Development (CSP-PSD), a coalition, said in a statement on Wednesday that the departure of MINUSMA “would constitute a threat to security in Mali and the entire region.”

Requests for comment from the junta’s spokesperson went unanswered.

Whether or when MINUSMA will go is unclear. After a Tuareg-led separatist insurgency was taken over by Islamist organizations, which went on to kill hundreds of people and seize control of significant portions of northern and central Mali, the army has been present in the country of West Africa since 2013.

The separatists, whose onslaught was stopped in 2015 by the Algiers Accord, were placated in part by MINUSMA, which has failed to curb the Islamist violence.

The signatories have, though, had disagreements with the junta that entrenched power through two coups in 2020 and 2021. CSP-PSD withdrew from negotiations in December and declared that it would only reconvene in a neutral nation with international mediation.

Prior to Mali’s statement, MINUSMA was in discussions to extend its mandate, which expires on June 30. According to security experts, it could take at least a year for 13,000 soldiers and their equipment to leave in an orderly fashion.

There are worries that if separatist sentiments resurface, the country, which has severed ties with its Western friends since the coups and resorted to the Russian private military contractor Wagner Group for assistance, could descend further into turmoil.

Reuters