MINUSMA Change of Strategy Needed to Ensure Security in Mali, Goita Says

The UN Security Council decided to renew the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, MINUSMA, for another year this past June, amid increasing security issues across the African region of Sahel. It also called for greater cooperation with the country's authorities to ensure security, and promote and protect human rights.

The evolution of the security situation in Mali depends on a change of strategy by MINUSMA, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, as well as improved coordination between the mission and the country’s military, said the West African nation's transitional president Colonel Assimi Goita.

The Malian leader held talks on security with the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix, who was on a two-day working visit to Mali on December 5-6.

Goita stated that cooperation between MINUSMA and the army is needed first and foremost to protect civilians. Lacroix, in turn, confirmed, as cited by the media, that there was an agreement between Mali and the UN "so that when the time comes, the recommendations at the level of the Security Council are in line with the objectives of the Malian authorities."

Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdoulaye Diop said he believes that during the meeting the Bamako managed to deliver its concerns, expectations and priorities. He underlined that there is "a convergence in vision” between the parties. The minister stressed that the discussions will continue in the weeks and months to come.

"Our cooperation with the United Nations will be judged on the basis of the improvement that we can bring to the security of Malians," he said.

The UN peacekeeping mission has been in the country since April 2013. It was established to support the transitional authorities of Mali in the stabilization process and implementation of the transitional roadmap.

However, commenting on the results of the UN operation, Mali's Prime Minister Abdoulaye Maiga in his speech to the UN General Assembly in September 2022, stated that "the objectives for which MINUSMA was deployed in Mali have not been achieved.”

“This is why the government of Mali reiterates its demand, expressed on numerous occasions, for a paradigm shift and an adaptation of MINUSMA to the environment in which it is deployed, and a better interlinking between this mission and the Malian authorities,” he noted.

Several countries, including Germany and the UK, have recently announced plans to withdraw from the mission or decrease their presence. Sweden and Canada, among other nations, have also decided to leave the West African country. The decisions to withdraw forces from Mali take place amid continuing protests demanding that MINUSMA leave the country, with some protestors reportedly accusing the mission of undermining Mali's sovereignty.