First modification:
The UN Security Council delegation concluded two days of meetings in Mali with transition actors this Sunday, October 24. The mission, led by the United States, France and Niger, urged a return to civil power, after two coups in the country in just nine months. Political uncertainty lingers in the nation.
Pressuring the military-led interim government of Mali to return to a civilian administration is the central goal of the UN, which sent a delegation to the African country. However, after two days of meetings there is still no green light and the goal would be far from being reached.
“We arrived with a clear message about the need to organize the elections, apply the peace agreement and stabilize the center of Mali,” said Martin Kimani, ambassador of Kenya, one of the countries that led the United Nations mission.
The delegation, made up of 15 members of the UN Security Council, including representatives of China, India and Russia, France, Niger and the United States, did not report any progress on this matter, after meeting for two days, in Bamako, with representatives of the Army, civil society and armed groups who signed a peace agreement in 2015.
Political leaders insisted on a return to democracy after two coups in just nine months, in August 2020 and May 2021, when the military arrested then-interim President Bah N’Daou and the country’s Prime Minister Moctar Ouane. After the arrest the two were forced to resign.
Colonel Assimi Goïta, who was then the vice president, was inaugurated on June 7 and is the current president of the transition.
“We are here to listen to the transitional authorities and determine the best way to support them in their efforts to achieve this transition,” the Kenyan ambassador told reporters upon arrival in the Malian capital.
But the Malian interim authorities openly insist on their willingness to postpone the presidential and legislative elections scheduled for next February 27.
The dispatch of the UN mission thus added to international pressure on the coup leaders to comply with the electoral calendar, a date set by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). So far the compromise is unsuccessful.
Executions and disappearances allegedly at the hands of the military
The UN delegation arrived in Bamako just hours after Human Rights Watch (HRW) put pressure on the Malian authorities to investigate executions and disappearances attributed to the security forces.
HRW urged the United Nations to demand inquiries on this matter and said that the UN mission should also take advantage of its visit to pressure the Malian authorities to “investigate a series of alleged summary executions, forced disappearances and incommunicado detentions by part of the government security forces, “the organization said in a statement.
Malian security forces have allegedly committed a spate of summary executions, enforced disappearances, and incommunicado detentions. The UN Security Council, visiting Mali on Oct 23-24, should press the government for progress on justice. https://t.co/xAScZdGnGE pic.twitter.com/IpdnndUkxO
– Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) October 24, 2021
According to the organization dedicated to the investigation and defense of human rights, at least 14 men last seen in September in the custody of the security forces have disappeared or are being held “incommunicado”.
In addition, HRW accused the Army of allegedly executing three men who were detained by soldiers and claimed that their bodies were found near a camp of the military institution.
“Mali’s transitional government should not be left behind while its soldiers are linked to a wave of abuses,” said HRW Sahel director Corine Dufka.
At the beginning of October, the Malian Army indicated that it investigated images that circulated on the Internet about the torture of some people and that those allegedly involved were punished and “made available to the gendarmerie.”
As the violence spreads, the international community is pushing for the establishment of democracy as a fundamental solution. However, over the weekend hundreds of army supporters were called to demonstrate in favor of extending the transition period, a clear sign that the military does not have as a priority to give up power.
With AFP and EFE
.