UN peacekeeping mission in Mali speeds up withdrawal due to growing insecurity

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali — or MINUSMA — said in a statement on
Sunday (13 August) that it has sped up its withdrawal from the city of Ber in the north of the country due to “the degradation of security,” which had made its departure urgent.

During the operation, three of UN soldiers were wounded when they came under fire amid a surge in fighting, the MINUSMA force added a few hours later. MINUSMA also urged “all concerned parties to refrain from any actions that could further complicate the operation.”

Mali’s junta demanded in June that the UN peacekeepers withdraw from the West African country after a decade-long deployment. The UN mission, which had about 11,600 troops and 1,500 police officers stationed in Mali, was created to quell Tuareg-led separatist and Islamist insurgencies in northern the north of the country through the signing of the 2015 Algiers Accord.

MINUSMA’s impending pullout has reportedly exacerbated tensions between Mali’s military government and the rebel Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA). In recent days, the Tuareg-led northern rebel alliance, accused Malian forces and Russian Wagner Group troops of violating a ceasefire by attacking its forces near Ber. As the fighting continued on Sunday between the rebels and Mali’s troops, the country’s military junta did not address the CMA’s accusations, but said six of its soldiers stationed in the town were killed by “armed terrorist groups”. CMA seeks independence from the Malian state and controls most areas of the north.