Mali calls for immediate end of UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA

Mali's foreign minister has called for the United Nations Security Council to withdraw the peacekeeping mission in his country "without delay," denouncing its "failure" to respond to security challenges.

"The government of Mali calls for the withdrawal without delay of MINUSMA," the name of the UN force in Mali, said Abdoulaye Diop on Friday.

"MINUSMA seems to have become part of the problem by fueling community tensions exacerbated by extremely serious allegations which are highly detrimental to peace, reconciliation and national cohesion in Mali."

The minister added that this situation "generates a feeling of distrust among the populations with regard to MINUSMA".

The head of the United Nations mission in Mali, El Ghassim Wane, responded saying that conducting UN peacekeeping operations was "nearly impossible" without the consent of the host country.

Three options rejected

Mali's military rulers have increasingly imposed operational restrictions on peacekeepers and also broke Mali's longstanding alliance with former colonial power France.

"However, the government is willing to cooperate with the United Nations on this issue," the Diop said on Friday, while rejecting all options for changing the mandate of the mission as proposed by the UN secretary-general.

UN chief Antonio Guterres in January put forward three options for amending the mission, from an increase in personnel to a withdrawal of troops.

In a report published at the beginning of the week, he recommended to the Council an intermediate solution, to "reconfigure" the mission to concentrate on a limited number of priorities.