When Mali recently called for a UN peacekeeping force to depart the country “without delay,” it was the latest sign of unease in parts of Africa over the role of the so-called Blue Helmet operations.
Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Abdoulaye Diop last month called for the UN Security Council to withdraw peacekeepers from his country “without delay,” denouncing their “failure” to meet security challenges.
The UN Security Council, which was due to vote on the renewal of the mission’s mandate on Thursday next week, is likely to agree to Mali’s request, diplomatic sources said.
Photo: Reuters
A draft resolution, which would have to be approved by the council, “acknowledges the withdrawal” and refers to a six-month period to organize the departure of about 12,000 military and police personnel, a source said.
The mission has been in “persistent crisis” since Mali’s military coup in 2020, said Anjali Dayal, associate professor of International Politics ay Fordham University in New York City.
Mali’s military has increasingly imposed operational restrictions on the peacekeepers, demanding that the mission instead tackle terror groups in the country.
The landlocked Sahel state has been battling a security crisis since jihadist and separatist insurgencies broke out in 2012.
“It’s not the only mission in the world to have host state problems,” Dayal said.
Blue Helmet forces have also faced friction in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Central African Republic and South Sudan.
In the DRC, anti-UN demonstrations have repeatedly broken out over the years, while the government has called for an “accelerated” departure of the UN’s mission there.
“There is a ‘consent crisis’ in several African countries,” said Patryk Labuda, an expert in international law, human rights and peacekeeping at the University of Zurich.
“Populations and governments are not satisfied with the services provided by the Blue Helmets,” but for different reasons in each country, he said.
Richard Gowan, the International Crisis Group’s UN director, said that “the Blue Helmets are finding it difficult to play a role in the persistent violence” in the DRC, South Sudan and Mali.
“The local population often views UN units with skepticism and contempt,” he said. “I think that some governments in Africa think that the UN wastes too much time talking about human rights and too little time killing off troublesome insurgents.”
Under UN mandates, peacekeepers are authorized to use force only as a last resort to defend themselves or the mandate. They are neither a peace enforcement tool nor an anti-terrorist force.
Gowan said Russia’s paramilitary Wagner group, which is active in several Saharan countries, represents the “predatory and brutal” alternative to the Blue Helmets, using lethal force against insurgents.
“In reality, this is usually a recipe for more chaos,” Gowan said.
Divisions within the UN Security Council do not help.
“This level of resistance that we’re seeing from some host governments — not all but from some — I think is connected to the divisions that we’re currently seeing within the Security Council. And host states are unfortunately using this as leverage,” said Julie Gregory, a research analyst at the Stimson Center think tank.
Mali’s decision “may send a signal to other governments: If you’re not happy, you can be more assertive. It may reduce the UN’s room for maneuver,” Labuda said.
However, despite the setbacks faced by Blue Helmet forces, the achievements of UN missions should not be forgotten, experts say.
“The way we think about peacekeeping is so colored by its failures because they are visible and big, but it’s a pretty successful tool,” Dayal said. “It tends to reduce the spread of conflict; it tends to keep casualty levels lower; it tends to be particularly effective at protecting people from rebels.”
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
RSS