APA-Bamako (Mali) The gradual withdrawal of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) is due to be completed by December 31, 2023 at the latest.
Pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 2690, adopted on June 30, 2023, the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) is in the process of full disengagement at the request of the junta.
By next New Year’s Day, there should be no peacekeepers left in Mali. The installations previously occupied by the UN mission are also subject to a special handover procedure.
“As part of the MINUSMA’s withdrawal process, its regional office in Mopti handed back to the civilian authorities its ‘Office des Produits Agricoles du Mali’ (OPAM) and Office du Riz outbuildings on November 22, 2023,” said a MINUSMA press release received by APA.
“Cheick Sidi Yaya Coulibaly, first deputy prefect of the Cercle de Mopti, and Emdadul Islam, commander of the MINUSMA force in the region, signed the site inspection certificates, the lists of remaining infrastructure and the environmental reports. These documents certify the good functional and environmental condition in which the rights-of-way and equipment have been handed over to the Malian authorities. In addition, the Regional Office is handing over two large-capacity generators, water tanks and other equipment”, continued the source.
The action taken by MINUSMA, it said, marks the transfer of responsibility for these two annexes to the local authorities, as a prelude to the definitive closure of the main camp in Mopti, in the center of the country, scheduled for early December 2023.
Cheick Sidi Yaya Coulibaly, State representative in Mopti, took the opportunity to express the local authorities’ gratitude to the UN mission: “It’s a sense of pride that we share today. On behalf of the regional authorities and the entire population, we would like to express our gratitude to MINUSMA for ten years of collaboration. Through them, we also thank the United Nations.”
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