MALI: U.N. mission replaces African force, will double in size, as doubts linger over election due on July 28

Record ID: 349711

  • Title: MALI: U.N. mission replaces African force, will double in size, as doubts linger over election due on July 28
  • Date: 1st July 2013
  • Summary: BAMAKO, MALI (JULY 1, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF AFRICAN MISMA TROOPS BEING REVIEWED VARIOUS OF POWER TRANSFER CEREMONY BETWEEN MISMA AND MINUSMA TROOPS RWANDAN GENERAL JEAN BOSCO ORDERING TROOPS TO CHANGE THEIR BERETS AND REPLACE THEM WIT BLUE HELMETS SOLDIERS CHANGING THEIR BERETS U.N. FLAG BEING RAISED (SOUNDBITE) (French) MINUSMA MISSION CHIEF, BERT KOENDERS, SAYING:
  • Embargoed: 16th July 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mali
  • Country: Mali
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1BNJKJZIOVNFB5E5H4XZ2ONLL
  • Story Text: The United Nations took over command of an African peacekeeping force in Mali on Monday (July 1), bolstering the mission in a country still threatened by militants and weeks away from what analysts warn could be chaotic elections.
    The transfer of command will bring in soldiers from beyond Africa and eventually see the operation more than double in size.
    Western and regional powers want to keep order in the West African country after a tumultuous 18 months when soldiers toppled the president and al Qaeda-linked rebels seized the desert north.
    France, fearing the militants could use the territory as a launchpad for foreign attacks, launched a lightening offensive in January and forced them to retreat.
    Paris still has troops in the country but wants to hand over most security responsibilities to the United Nations.
    The U.N. mission, known as MINUSMA, will be the world body's third largest with 12,600 soldiers and policemen once fully deployed.

    "We are a multidimentional mission with an African and Asian force, for the protection of all Malians, without any discrimination. One of the most important things, we are going to go with the faith that we have, we are only at the beginning, and in the days to come we are going to provide logistical and material help to organise the elections," mission chief Bert Koenders said at the launch ceremony in Bamako.
    The U.N. force will operate alongside troops from former colonial power France, some of whom will remain in the country to tackle remaining Islamists.
    There are currently around 6,000 troops from mainly West African countries and the United Nations is still seeking men, helicopters and intelligence support from contributing countries before the mission is fully up and running by the year's end.

    "It's been six months now and we have practically achieved our mission: the north of Mali is free, the operations to stabilise the country have started, we are present in all the cities in the north including Kidal, only last week a contingent from Benin arrived, so we continue to support and reinforce the Malian state, with the return of the administration and the Malian army on the whole of the Malian territory," said Pierre Bouyoya, the outgoing MISMA mission chief.
    Bamako has secured an agreement with separatist Tuareg rebels to allow elections to take place in areas they still occupy ahead of further talks with an elected government.
    But experts and some Malian officials have expressed concern about rushing to an election that is meant to lay the foundations for rebuilding a country that was seen as a model of democracy in the region before its implosion in 2012.
    Speaking in Geneva on Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said holding a poll on July 28 that was credible, peaceful and accepted by all Malians would be "an enormous undertaking".
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