Attack On Northern Mali Leaves One UN Peacekeeper Dead And Eight Critically Injured

In the northern Timbuktu region of Mali, where extremists still operate, attackers murdered one U.N. peacekeeper and critically injured eight others on Friday, according to the United Nations.

All of the Burkinabe troops were on a security patrol that was attacked seven kilometers (four miles) from their base in Ber, first by an improvised explosive device and then by direct small weapons fire, according to U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

The attack was harshly denounced by the U.N. Security Council, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and El-Ghassim Wane, the leader of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Mali.

Observing that “attacks targeting U.N. peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law,” Dujarric said, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Mali’s interim authorities to immediately identify the attackers and bring them to justice.

The Security Council emphasized that attacking peacekeepers may not only be a war crime, but that participation in planning, directing, funding, or carrying out such an attack may result in sanctions. The Security Council also urged for an immediate investigation and accountability.

Since a coup against Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, an elected president, in 2020, Mali has been governed by a military junta. Since 2013, it has been the target of disruptive attacks by armed extremist groups connected to both the Islamic State and al-Qaida.

After the junta hired mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group, France and its European allies fighting jihadists in northern Mali withdrew from the nation in 2021.

Concern was raised by the Security Council on the security situation in Mali “and the transnational dimension of the terrorist threat in the Sahel region.” It urged the Malian parties to carry out the terms of a 2015 peace deal completely.

In April, the US warned Mali’s military government that the UN’s deployment of its more than 15,000 peacekeepers would be “irresponsible” unless the Western African nation lifted restrictions, including those preventing the use of reconnaissance drones, and upheld its political commitments to peace and elections in March 2024.

The warning came as the U.N. Security Council debated three alternatives for the future of the peacekeeping mission put forth by Secretary-General António Guterres: expanding it, decreasing its footprint, or withdrawing troops and police and turning it into a political mission. On June 30th, its present mandate will end.

The peacekeeper killed on Friday, according to Dujarric, was the ninth to pass away in Mali this year. The secretary-general praised the “courage and tenacity” of the peacekeepers in Mali who perform their duties “under extremely trying conditions,” he said.

This heartbreaking death serves as a clear reminder of the dangers faced by peacekeepers as they relentlessly fight to restore security and peace to the people of Mali, he said.