UN URGES MALI TO SPEED RETURN TO CIVILIAN RULE

Mali has been battling a security and political crisis since jihadist and separatist insurgencies broke out in the north in 2012.

FILE: Acting Prime Minister of Mali Abdoulaye Maiga addresses the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City on 24 September 2022. Picture: Bryan R. Smith/AFP

AFP | 12 April 2023 12:22

DAKAR - The United Nations has urged Mali's junta to "expedite" the process of returning to civilian rule by early 2024 as promised, in a report received Tuesday by AFP.

In the Security Council report, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also expressed concern about persistent violence against civilians and problems implementing a peace agreement between the state and armed groups in the north.

The Security Council is scheduled to meet Wednesday.

Mali has been battling a security and political crisis since jihadist and separatist insurgencies broke out in the north in 2012.

The violence has spread to the centre of the country - and to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger - and continues to move south.

A UN stabilisation mission, MINUSMA, has been deployed in the Sahel country since 2013.

Since 2020, Mali has been ruled by a military junta, which has bowed to international pressure to return to democracy by March 2024.

In the quarterly report, Guterres noted "progress" made on the democratic transition, citing a draft for a new constitution and a new electoral management authority.

But, he said, "critical activities identified in the electoral timetable" have faced delays.

"With less than a year left before the planned end of the Transition, it behooves the Malian authorities to do all that is in their power to expedite the process, with a view to meeting the agreed deadline for the return to constitutional order," he said.

'IMPASSE'

A referendum on the draft constitution was due to be held on March 19 but has been postponed until further notice.

Guterres expressed concern at the "ongoing impasse" and "continued paralysis" in the application of a peace agreement with armed groups.

The implementation of the deal, signed in 2015 in Algiers, is seen as a key step in bringing stability to the country.

But the signatories, in particular Tuareg groups, are at loggerheads with the junta.

"The need for the parties to overcome the current impasse is made even more urgent by the prevailing security situation, particularly in the north-eastern part of Mali, where civilians are under relentless attack by terrorist groups, with all the attendant humanitarian consequences," Guterres said.

Mali's government said the implementation of the transition calendar "remains a priority" and insisted it would respect its commitments under the 2015 Algiers accord.

In a statement on social media, it also claimed an "improved security situation" and the "neutralisation of hundreds of terrorists" over the past three months.

The government also rejected claims of abuses against civilians by Malian forces during operations in which "foreign security personnel" took part, after a scathing rights report published by MINUSMA last month.

Mali's junta in 2022 began working with what it calls Russian "instructors" - which some opponents say are mercenaries from the Wagner paramilitary group.