/wion/media/agency_attachments/2024/12/26/2024-12-26t112006978z-wion-white-logo-for-website-2-1.png){kind=logo}
/wion/media/agency_attachments/2024/12/13/2024-12-13t071548098z-wionlogo.webp)
/wion/media/member_avatars/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/2020/10/30/167427-manas.jpg)
/wion/media/post_attachments/files/2023/10/15/386633-mali.jpg)
Dakar, Senegal
Malian foreign minister Abdoulaye Diop has said that withdrawal of United Nations peacekeepers from northern Mali will not be delayed and would happen on time by December 31. The UN has expressed concerns that its drawdown may get hampered by uptick in fighting in the northern part of the country. Here, rival armed groups are seeking to seize territory as the UN pulls out.
The UN has also said that the military junta has not given permits to sent convoys to retrieve equipment from bases there.
The military junta seized power in Mali in the year 2020. The departure of UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA by the end of 2023 is part of an ongoing security reconfiguration launched by the junta.
AFP has reported citing local officials that Russian mercenaries and Malian soldiers are arriving in the north to eventually replace UN soldiers who have been ordered by the junta to leave.
"Everything must be done to ensure the work of MINUSMA is ended by December 31," Diop said in a video posted on social media on Saturday evening.
"The government does not foresee any extension of this deadline," he said in the recording of comments he made to a meeting of the diplomatic corps in the capital, Bamako.
There has been an escalation in fighting in the north between majority-Tuareg separatist groups and the Malian army.
The jihadist Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), which is affiliated to Al-Qaeda, has also stepped up attacks on Malian army posts.
It is being feared that the violence may escalate when UN peacekeepers depart from their camps in Tessalit, Aguelhok and Kidal, the separatist bastion.
The separatists are against MINUSMA handing over its bases to the Malian military.
Diop said he was aware the UN had requested authorisation to send in logistics convoys by road to remove equipment from its northern bases and conduct air operations to protect the drawdown.
"We are working to find solutions," he said.
(With inputs from agencies)
You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.
WATCH WION LIVE HERE