Mali confirms full UN mission withdrawal by mid-November

The UN’s mission in Mali, forced to pull out of the crisis-wracked country last year, will be completely gone by mid-November, the ruling junta has said.

The UN stabilisation mission (MINUSMA) had been in place since 2013 but ended on December 31 after Mali’s military leaders ordered it to leave amid deteriorating relations.

It had previously maintained around 15,000 soldiers and police in the fragile and poor West African nation, which is in the grip of militant violence and other crises.

Under a so-called liquidation phase since January, the last equipment has been handed over to the authorities or evacuated, and final contracts wrapped up.

“This phase ends on November 15, 2024, with the handover of the Bamako camp and the repatriation of all civilian international personnel, contingents and equipment, thus establishing the definitive withdrawal of MINUSMA,” the council of ministers said in a statement.

Mali’s ruling junta, which seized power in a 2020 coup, accused the UN mission of “fuelling community tensions”.

It also broke off relations with former colonial ruler France, which had been helping to fight militant insurgents in the north, and since then has turned to Russia for political and military assistance.

More than 180 MINUSMA members were killed in attacks, mostly blamed on armed groups linked to Al Qaeda or Daesh.