Mali’s military government has given the head of the UN peacekeeping mission’s human rights division, Guillaume Ngefa-Atondoko Andali, forty-eight (48) hours to leave the country.
The ruling military junta accused the MINUSMA head of bias against the country. The decision comes after a UN Security Council briefing was critical of Mali.
MINUSMA stands for United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali. It was established on April 25, 2013 by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2100 to stabilize the country after the Tuareg rebellion of 2012.
In a statement read out on national television, government Spokesman, Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, disclosed that Guillaume Ngefa-Atondoko Andali had committed “subversive actions” in his selection of witnesses to testify at UN Security Council briefings on Mali.
“This measure comes after the destabilizing and subversive actions of Monsieur Andali.”
Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga
The Malian government particularly singled out the last of such briefing, which took place on January 27, 2023.
During the briefing, rights activist, Aminata Cheick Dicko, decried the security situation in the country, and accused the regime’s Russian partner, the Wagner group, of serious rights violations.
In a statement delivered during the UN Security Council’s January 27 meeting, UN Deputy Representative Richard Mills described Wagner as a “criminal organization that is committing widespread atrocities and human rights abuses in Mali and elsewhere.”
Mills also disclosed that the Malian authorities had blocked the MINUSMA mission from deterring and responding to attacks as well as investigating alleged human rights abuses on 237 separate occasions.
The Malian authorities have come under pressure for alleged human rights violations and abuses reportedly perpetrated by Malian armed forces in partnership with the Russian private military contractor Wagner Group in Mali.
UN experts called on January 31 for an independent investigation into potential war crimes and crimes against humanity, purportedly committed by the Malian armed forces and the Russian private military contractor, Wagner.
The statement disclosed, “Since 2021, the experts have received persistent and alarming accounts of horrific executions, mass graves, acts of torture, rape and sexual violence, pillaging, arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances perpetrated by Malian armed forces and their allies.”
MINUSMA’s mission was to stabilize Mali amid a growing jihadist insurgency. However, relations between the mission and the ruling regime became tense recently, especially following the military take-over in a 2020 coup, followed by another coup nine months later.
In August 2022, Malian authorities also expelled MINUSMA Spokesman Olivier Salgado, and ordered the temporary suspension of the mission’s group rotations.
Russia’s Foreign Minister To Visit Mali
Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov is due in Mali on Monday, February 6, 2023 for a visit aimed at boosting defense and security ties.
Lavrov is expected to arrive in Mali’s capital, Bamako, for what will be his second trip to Africa in two weeks.
It will be the first official visit to the West African nation by a Russian Foreign Minister.
Mali’s foreign ministry disclosed that Lavrov will hold a meeting with junta leader, Colonel Assimi Goïta, and other officials during the two-day visit.
According to a Malian website, the Yerewolo movement, which advocates for closer ties between Mali and Russia, welcomed Lavrov’s visit and called for the installation of a Russian military base in the northern Gao Region.
Lavrov was expected to visit Mali during his trip to the African continent in January, but instead toured South Africa, Angola, Eswatini and Eritrea.
Russia’s influence in Mali has steadily increased since the deployment of Wagner Group mercenaries in December 2021.
Lavrov opined that France had created a security void by withdrawing its troops from the Sahel nation, which Mali had asked Russia to help fill.
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