Mali says Russia renews 'unstinting support' after vote to end MINUSMA

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
1 Jul 2023 00:22
1 Shares

The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks to his Malian counterpart reaffirming his solidarity with Bamako.

In this handout photo released by Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service, Mali's Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop, right, welcomes Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during their meeting in Bamako, Mali, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. (AP)

Malian Foreign Ministry, on Friday, announced that Russia has renewed its "unstinting support" for Mali following the decision to end of the UN mission across the nation.

According to a tweet published shortly after the UN Security Council voted to end the mission in Mali, Bamako underscored that Moscow's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov "renewed his country's unstinting support towards Mali in the military-technical field as well as for humanitarian and economic assistance."

SEM @AbdoulayeDiop8 a eu ce jour un entretien téléphonique avec son Homologue Russe, SEM Sergueï LAVROV. Soutien du Mali à la stabilité de la Russie, retrait de la @UN_MINUSMA et coopération bilatérale renforcée ont été l’objet de leur entretien. pic.twitter.com/K0sHFM3fbO
— Ministère des Affaires étrangères du Mali (@MaliMaeci) June 30, 2023

Mali's Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop had expressed solidarity with Russia "whose stability is essential for international peace and security."

Earlier in the day, a resolution was passed by the Security Council with a unanimous vote, which will begin the immediate winding down of the MINUSMA mission, which was launched in 2013 to stop an alleged terrorist takeover.

After shocking the Security Council two weeks prior by labeling the UN mission a "failure" and calling for its immediate termination, the vote was held during a short period.

Mali's relations with the United Nations have deteriorated sharply since a 2020 coup "brought to power a military regime that also severed defense cooperation with France, the former colonial power."

Diop, when he addressed the UN a couple of weeks back, stressed that the "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."