Mali: UN Vote On Maintaining Its Peace Force in Mali Is Postponed to Friday

A UN peacekeeper on patrol in Gao, Mali (file photo).

The UN Security Council is due to hold a vote Friday on whether to maintain Minusma - the UN peacekeeping force in Mali - after 30 June when the mission ends.

Mali's junta, however, has requested its departure.

The vote at the UN was originally scheduled for Thursday, but it has now been postponed to Friday as discussions between members of the Council, the UN, and Mali continue.

On Tuesday evening, Reuters news agency revealed that France has proposed a draft resolution to the UN to end its peacekeeping mission in Mali.

The draft also calls for the withdrawal of all personnel within six months.

Contested mission

The tensions between the UN and Mali's military junta over the presence of the UN force have deepened in the past few months.

Earlier this month, Mali's foreign minister, Abdoulaye Diop, asked Minusma to leave without delay. French troops have already left.

The US State Department has also expressed its concern about the effects this decision will have on the security and humanitarian crises.

But the UN is already assessing its options.

"Following the developments on the ground with the government of Mali," Farhan Haq, spokesman for the UN Secretary General said, "we're trying to see what kind of timetable we have. We'll wait first for the action of the Security Council before making any announcements about what we're doing next."

Previous experience has shown that moving UN peacekeepers along with their equipment, facilities and supporting staff takes a long time.

"We need a reasonable timetable," Haq added. "It'll become clear through our dialogue with the members of the Security Council what that timetable will be."

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