Mali calls on UN force to exit, Burkina Faso hails decision
Burkina Faso calls on the international community to respect Mali's decision regarding MINUSMA and requested the UN take the required actions for the MINUSMA-affiliated Burkinabe forces' departure from Mali.
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A man walks past a mural in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Wednesday, March 1, 2023 (AP Photo)
On Friday, Mali's Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop urged the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), which was created in 2013, to exit Mali.
Diop told the UN that "MINUSMA seems to have become part of the problem by fuelling community tensions exacerbated by extremely serious allegations which are highly detrimental to peace, reconciliation and national cohesion in Mali."
Moreover, Dio explained that "This situation generates a feeling of distrust among the populations with regard to Minusma."
On Sunday, Burkina Faso hailed the "courageous decision" by Mali. It is worth noting that both Mali and Burkina Faso have been fighting militant insurgencies for years.
Burkinabe government spokesman Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo, in a statement, stressed that Ouagadougou "hails this courageous decision taken by the transitional Mali authorities" and "congratulates" Bamako's position given that the decision was "in conformity with the strategic decision of the Malian state in the fight against terrorism and for the restoration of peace and security in the Sahel."
Mali's call to end MINUSMA, according to Burkina Faso's statement, sought to assert the nation's sovereignty over its territories as the Malian people must become "the sole masters of their destiny."
As such, Ouedraogo urged the international community to respect Mali's choice and called on the UN to take the required actions for the MINUSMA-affiliated Burkinabe forces' departure from Mali.
France undermined state institutions, NATO bolstered terrorism: Mali
NATO's intervention in Libya and the support of some terrorist groups contributed to the bolstering and proliferation of terrorism in Mali and the entire African Sahel region, Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop told Al Mayadeen during an exclusive interview earlier in March.
Groups from the Malian community in Libya benefited from NATO's intervention in the North African state in order to obtain support and assistance, Diop told Al Mayadeen, noting that the groups in question went to northern Mali, and they were joined by terrorist organizations, who went on to occupy a third of Mali's territory.
Diop underlined that the instability resulting from terrorism is no longer confined to northern Mali, but it expanded to include almost all parts of the country and has crossed national borders, spreading to neighboring countries to the Gulf of Guinea.
