The UN force in Mali is one of the largest and most dangerous peacekeeping operations in the world. By Souleymane Ag Anara (AFP)
Mali will expel the country's UN peacekeeping spokesman over posts he made on Twitter, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
MINUSMA spokesman Olivier Salgado has been given 72 hours to abandon "biased and unacceptable" posts he made on the controversy involving Ivory Coast soldiers, he said in a statement obtained by AFP.
The expulsion comes at a time of growing friction between Mali's ruling military and international partners supporting the country's fight against jihadists.
The issue regarding Salgado, a French national, concerns 49 Ivorian soldiers who were detained after landing at Bamako airport on July 10.
The authorities accused the soldiers of being "mercenaries".
But Ivory Coast says they were sent to provide a support role for MINUSMA, as part of a routine rotation.
Countries that provide MINUSMA contingents routinely bring in "national support elements," or NSEs, to help with supplies and other back-up functions.
According to the Malian version of events, the soldiers had no mission orders or authorization to enter the country.
The State Department accused Salgado of posts on Twitter that "claimed, without any evidence, that the Malian authorities had been previously informed" of their arrival.
MINUSMA was asked to provide evidence to support Salgado's claims, but did not respond.
The UN Secretary-General's Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq said the UN "deeply" regrets the Malian decision.
"The doctrine of 'persona non grata' does not apply to United Nations personnel and is contrary to obligations under the UN Charter," he said.
"MINUSMA and UN Headquarters are taking appropriate steps to liaise with the relevant authorities on this matter."
Security crisis
The incident takes place against a background of trouble in Mali, one of Africa's poorest and most unstable countries.
Thousands of people have died and hundreds of thousands have been displaced in the jihadist campaign that began in 2012 in northern Mali and spread to Niger and Burkina Faso three years later.
The colonels, angered by the government's handling of the rebellion, seized power in August 2020 and staged another coup in May 2021.
Their takeover sparked a long standoff with the ECOWAS regional bloc over a timetable for the restoration of civilian rule.
The coup also led to a rift with France, Mali's former colonial ruler, which says the junta hired Russian "mercenaries" to support it.
The French counter-jihadist mission in the Sahel is now withdrawing from Mali. The operation is expected to be completed in the coming weeks.
UN forces
MINUSMA – the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali – was launched in 2013.
It is one of the largest UN peacekeeping operations, with 17,609 troops, police, civilians and volunteers deployed by April, according to its website.
It is also one of the most dangerous UN missions, with 275 deaths from attacks, accidents or other causes, the website said.
On June 29, the UN Security Council renewed MINUSMA's mandate for one year, even as the junta opposed requests to allow the mission's investigators freedom of movement.
Four days after the row over Ivory Coast troops flared up, Mali announced it was suspending rotations of MINUSMA personnel for "national security" reasons.
The suspension will last until a meeting is held to "facilitate the coordination and regulation" of contingent rotation, it said. No hearing date has yet been set.
They had Author (AFP)
The following day, MINUSMA said Egypt, its biggest troop contributor, had decided to "temporarily suspend" participation in operations after seven of its personnel were killed this year.
On Wednesday, a group called Yerewolo, said to be close to the junta, delivered a letter at MINUSMA headquarters in Bamako demanding the mission leave the country.
He describes MINUSMA as having become "an occupying force that incites and perpetuates fear."
An analyst in Bamako said on condition of anonymity that the friction between MINUSMA and the Malian authorities was going "the same way" as with France.
The pattern, he said, was to "block foreign contingents, challenge the legal framework (for the mission) and then expel a high-ranking symbolic figure."
The French ambassador was expelled in January, around the same time Denmark was told to withdraw a newly arrived unit that was part of a fledgling European force.
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