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United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA)

Bowing to the principle that peacekeepers need the consent of the host government, the Security Council voted unanimously 30 June 2023 to start immediately winding down the mission despite fears by Western powers of new instability in the troubled nation. The vote came two weeks after Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop stunned the Security Council by calling the UN operation known as Minusma a "failure" and urging its immediate end.

Mali's relations with the United Nations have deteriorated sharply since a 2020 coup brought to power a military regime which also severed defense cooperation with France, the former colonial power. The junta instead has rallied behind Russia and brought in the Wagner Group, the ruthless mercenaries involved in a mutiny against President Vladimir Putin a week earlier.

In the course of four years, 118 peacekeepers had been killed — making the U.N. mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA, the world body’s deadliest ongoing peace operation. The Mali mission is the only one of the 16 active U.N. peacekeeping operations that authorized troops to deter and counter “asymmetric threats” — that is, terrorist groups — that could harm its work or civilians.

Mali's decision on 14 July 2022 to suspend troop rotations by the United Nations' peacekeeping mission (MINUSMA) raised questions about how it wants to detect the terms of engagement — something some analysts fear could backfire. In a fresh blow to the mission, Egypt told the UN on Friday that it will pull its troops from Mali by mid-August, citing deadly attacks against its peacekeepers. MINUSMA — which was established in April 2013 to help the West African nation cope with a bloody jihadist campaign — has been rotating troops who serve on that mission for years.

Mali's military government decision to suspend MUNUSMA followed the arrest of 49 Ivorian troops who arrived at Bamako airport aboard a special flight earlier this week. Ivory Coast said the soldiers were part of the fifth MINUSMA rotation, but Malian officials described them as "mercenaries" who sought to topple the country's military-led government. The suspension of the rotations will affect the 12,261 soldiers and the 1,718 police officers of the contingents of the UN mission serving in the West African nation.

The decision to suspend the UN mission also includes rotations that have already been scheduled, the Malian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The suspension will last until a meeting is held to "facilitate the coordination and regulation" of the rotation of these contingents, according to the statement read.

A 395-strong Chinese peacekeeping force began peacekeeping missions in Mali on behalf of the United Nations before the end of May 2017. The troops were sent to the West African country in two batches, where they would stay for one year. The troops include military engineers, security personnel and medical staff. This was the fifth Chinese peacekeeping force to be sent to Mali.

The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) was established by Security Council resolution 2100 of 25 April 2013. Under the terms of the resolution, the mission would support the political process and carry out a number of security-related stabilization tasks, with a focus on major population centres and lines of communication, protecting civilians, human rights monitoring, the creation of conditions for the provision of humanitarian assistance and the return of displaced persons, the extension of State authority and the preparation of free, inclusive and peaceful elections.

The Mission would operate under robust rules of engagement with a mandate to use all necessary means to address threats to the implementation of its mandate, which would include protection of civilians under imminent threat of physical violence and protection of United Nations personnel from residual threats, within its capabilities and its areas of deployment. This could include the conduct of operations on its own or in cooperation with the Malian defence and security forces. French forces deployed in Mali were also authorized to intervene in support of MINUSMA when under imminent and serious threat upon request of the Secretary-General.

The United Nations Office in Mali (UNOM), established earlier in accordance with Security Council resolution 2085 of 20 December 2012, would be subsumed into MINUSMA immediately following the adoption of resolution 2100. On 1 July 2013, MINUSMA would take over the authority from the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA), subject to further review by the Council of the security situation in Mission’s area of operations. MINUSMA would comprise up to 11,200 military personnel, including reserve battalions capable of deploying rapidly within the country as and when required, and 1,440 police (comprising formed police units and individual police officers).

It was envisaged that the majority of the military, police and civilian substantive and support components would operate primarily in the north with a possible logistics base in Gao or Sevare, while a light presence, including civilians, military and police elements would be based in Bamako.

In recent years, Mali has been confronted by a profound crisis with serious political, security, socio-economic, humanitarian and human rights consequences. The crisis stems from long-standing structural conditions such as weak State institutions; ineffective governance; fragile social cohesion; deep-seated feelings among communities in the north of being neglected, marginalized and unfairly treated by the central Government; a weak and externally dependent, albeit vibrant, civil society; and the effects of environmental degradation, climate change and economic shocks. These conditions were exacerbated by more recent factors of instability, including corruption, nepotism, abuse of power, internal strife and deteriorating capacity of the national army.

October 31, 2023 - MINUSMA ended its presence in the Kidal region today, following the departure of its last personnel by air and land convoy. The last convoy of peacekeepers left Kidal by road for Gao, and unfortunately suffered two IED attacks on the way, causing material damage. The last MINUSMA flight from Kidal reached Gao late yesterday afternoon. The convoys of the Chadian contingent, which left Aguelhok and Tessalit on October 21 and 23 respectively, also arrived in Gao on October 29.

The conditions of departure from all these bases were extremely difficult and challenging, for a variety of reasons, all completely beyond the Mission's control, including the deteriorating security situation and the multiple threats to peacekeepers that this entailed. Added to this were the challenges of conducting air operations to extract Mission personnel.

In the course of this accelerated withdrawal to preserve the lives of peacekeepers in a particularly complex operational environment, MINUSMA was forced to destroy and decommission sensitive equipment belonging to troop- and police-contributing countries and to the United Nations. This measure was taken as a last resort in accordance with UN rules and procedures, as the 200 trucks on standby in Gao since September 24 had not been authorized to move to Tessalit, Aguelhok and Kidal to collect the said equipment for shipment out of Mali.

The departure from Kidal marks the closure of MINUSMA's eighth base out of a total of 13 in central and northern Mali, as well as in the capital, Bamako. Since July, the Mission has withdrawn almost 6,000 civilian and uniformed personnel from Mali, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2690 (2023). The Mission is determined to complete its withdrawal on schedule, by December 31, 2023.