UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has denounced an attack on a UN peacekeeping convoy in Kidal, northern Mali, that resulted in the death of a Guinean soldier.
An improvised explosive device (IED) detonated during a UN Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) mine detection operation, killing the Guinean peacekeeper.
The secretary-general expressed his profound sympathies to the victim’s family and comrades in arms, as well as the people and authorities of Guinea, in a statement issued by UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq.
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Guterres recalled that under international law, attacks targeting UN peacekeepers may constitute war crimes.
He called on the Malian authorities to “spare no effort” in identifying the perpetrators so that they can swiftly be brought to justice swiftly
Haq said that ‘the secretary-general reaffirms the solidarity of the United Nations with the people and authorities of Mali in their pursuit of peace and security’.
Since the beginning of the year, several attacks involving IEDs have been recorded against MINUSMA uniformed personnel, which have killed a number of peacekeepers and injured others.
French troops last Tuesday officially handed back a military base in northeastern Mali ahead of a final withdrawal from the Sahel nation, France’s army has confirmed, after nine years of fighting a jihadist insurgency in the West African country.
Meanwhile, the UN’s emissary there have warned that their withdrawal could leave Menaka, where they were based, vulnerable to a jihadist attack.
The departure from the Menaka base ‘was conducted in good order, safely and in transparent fashion’, said French army spokesman General Pascal Ianni in Paris.
Africa Today News, New York reports that this was coming ahead of the last withdrawal from Mali ‘at the end of the summer’ when France’s main military base at Gao will be returned to Malian forces, he added.
However, El-Ghassim Wane, the UN Secretary General’s special representative in Mali, warned that the pull-out could spell trouble for Menaka.
