The United Nations mission in Mali has officially ended a 10-year deployment in the country, its spokesperson said in a pullout ordered by Mali’s military government.
The mission, known as the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), lowered the UN flag in its headquarters in the capital, Bamako, its spokesperson, Fatoumata Kaba, told the AFP news agency on Monday.
The symbolic ceremony marks the official end of the mission, she said, even though some of the elements of it are still there.
A “liquidation phase” will take place after January 1, involving activities such as handing over any remaining equipment to the authorities.
In June, Mali’s military government, which seized power in 2020, demanded the departure of the mission, deployed since 2013, despite being in the grip of attacks by armed groups in the Sahel region.
The withdrawal of MINUSMA troops has ignited fears that fighting will intensify between Malian forces and armed groups for territorial control.
The mission had maintained about 15,000 soldiers and police in Mali for the past decade. About 180 members have been killed in hostile acts.
As of Friday, more than 10,500 uniformed and civilian MINUSMA personnel had left Mali, out of a total of about 13,800 staff at the start of the withdrawal, the UN mission said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Since being told to leave, MINUSMA has left 13 positions in Mali and has yet to close sites in Gao and Timbuktu in the north.
—Aljazeera
