The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (, MINUSMA) is a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

peacekeeping mission in

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

. MINUSMA was established on 25 April 2013 by

United Nations Security Council Resolution 2100 The United Nations Security Council established the Peacekeeping Force for Mali effective 1 July, unanimously adopting resolution 2100 (2013) with the aim too support the political transition process and help stabilize Mali. United Nations Securit ...

to stabilise the country after the Tuareg rebellion of 2012. It was officially deployed on 1 July, and has become the UN's most dangerous peacekeeping mission, with 209 peacekeepers killed out of a force of about 15,200. Apart from MINUSMA, there currently are two further international peace operations in Mali. These are the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

missions

EUCAP Sahel Mali The EU Capacity Building Mission in Mali (EUCAP Sahel Mali) was initiated on 15 April 2014 within the European Union Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) as a Capacity Building Mission in order to train internal security forces in Mali. ...

and

EUTM Mali EUTM Mali (European Union Training Mission in Mali) is a European Union multinational military training mission headquartered in Bamako, Mali. 22 EU members (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece ...

History

In 2012,

Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym: ''Imuhaɣ/Imušaɣ/Imašeɣăn/Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern A ...

and other peoples in northern Mali's

Azawad Azawad, or Azawagh (Tuareg: Azawaɣ, or Azawad; ar, أزواد) was a short-lived unrecognised state from 2012 to 2013. Azawagh (''Azawaɣ'') is the generic Tuareg Berber name of all Tuareg Berber areas, especially the northern half of Mali ...

region started an insurgency in the north under the banner of the

National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad or the Azawad National Liberation Movement (Tamasheq: '; ar, الحركة الوطنية لتحرير أزواد ''al-Ḥarakat al-Waṭaniyat Litaḥrīr ʾĀzawād''; french: Mouvement nati ...

. After some initial successes and complaints from the

Malian Army The Malian Armed Forces (french: links=no, Forces Armées Maliennes) consists of the Army (french: Armée de Terre, links=no), Republic of Mali Air Force (french: Force Aérienne de la Republique du Mali, links=no), and National Guard (french: G ...

that it was ill-equipped to fight the insurgents, who had benefited from an influx of heavy weaponry from the

2011 Libyan civil war The First Libyan Civil War was an armed conflict in 2011 in the North African country of Libya that was fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and rebel groups that were seeking to oust his government. It erupted with the Liby ...

as well as other sources, elements of the army staged a military coup d'état on 21 March 2012. Following the coup, the rebels made further advances to capture the three biggest cities in the north:

Gao Gao , or Gawgaw/Kawkaw, is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley. For much of its history Gao was an impor ...

Timbuktu Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou; Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label=Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrativ ...

and

Kidal Kidal ( Tuareg Berber: ⴾⴸⵍ, KDL, Kidal) is a town and commune in the desert region of northern Mali. The town lies northeast of Gao and is the capital of the Kidal Cercle and the Kidal Region. The commune has an area of about and includes ...

. Following economic sanctions and a blockade by the

Economic Community of West African States The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; also known as in French and Portuguese) is a regional political union, political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Collectively, these countries comprise an ...

(ECOWAS) on the country, a deal, brokered in

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...

by President

Blaise Compaoré Blaise Compaoré (born 3 February 1951)''Profiles of People in Power: The World's Government Leaders'' (2003), page 76–77.

under the auspices of ECOWAS, was signed that would see

Amadou Sanogo Amadou Haya Sanogo (born 1972 or 1973) is a Malian military officer who was leader of the 2012 Malian coup d'état against President Amadou Toumani Touré. He proclaimed himself the leader of the National Committee for Recovering Democracy and Res ...

cede power to

Dioncounda Traoré Dioncounda Traoré (born 23 February 1942) is a Malian politician who was President of Mali in an interim capacity from April 2012 to September 2013. Previously he was President of the National Assembly of Mali from 2007 to 2012, and he served as ...

to assume the presidency in an

interim An interim is a period of temporary pause or change in a sequence of events, or a temporary state, and is often applied to transitional political entities. Interim may also refer to: Temporary organizational arrangements (general concept) *Provis ...

capacity until an election is held. On 1 July 2013, of a future total of UN peacekeeping troops officially took over responsibility for patrolling the country's north from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and the

ECOWAS The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; also known as in French and Portuguese) is a regional political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Collectively, these countries comprise an area of , and in ...

International Support Mission to Mali The African-led International Support Mission to Mali (AFISMA) is an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) organized military mission sent to support the government of ECOWAS member nation Mali against Islamist rebels in the Norther ...

(AFISMA). The group was expected to play a role in the 2013 Malian presidential election. The force is the third largest UN peacekeeping force in operation in the world.

Organisation and forces

Its headquarters are in the Malian capital city,

Bamako Bamako ( bm, ߓߡߊ߬ߞߐ߬ ''Bàmakɔ̌'', ff, 𞤄𞤢𞤥𞤢𞤳𞤮 ''Bamako'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2009 population of 1,810,366 and an estimated 2022 population of 2.81 million. It is located on t ...

Military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

will be evaluated by the Force Headquarters U2-Intelligence Section. The force was led by

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

Major General Michael Lollesgaard in 2015 and 2016,

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

Major General Jean-Paul Deconinck until 2 October 2018, after which he was succeeded by Lieutenant General

Dennis Gyllensporre Lieutenant General Tage Dennis Gyllensporre, né ''Öztürkmen'' (born 14 July 1964) is a retired senior Swedish Army officer. Gyllensporre has served as Chief of Policy and Plans Department (2012–2014), Chief of Defence Staff (2014–2018), ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The force commander in November 2021 was

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

Lieutenant-General Johannes Matthijssen. , countries contributing with police and military personnel are:

Incidents

In October 2013, a suicide bomber attacked the Chadian soldiers resulting in the death of two soldiers. On 13 December, two Senegalese peacekeepers were killed at a bombing outside the Malian Solidarity Bank in

a day before the second round of the

Malian parliamentary election, 2013 Parliamentary elections were held in Mali on 24 November 2013. President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta's party, Rally for Mali, won 66 of the 147 seats in the National Assembly, with its allies winning an additional 49 seats, giving it a substantial ...

. In October 2014, 10 soldiers were killed—nine from

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesAbdoulaye Diop calling for the

UNSC The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, and ...

to send a rapid deployment force to the country claiming that there was an increase in

drug traffickers The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through ...

and Islamist fighters. U.N. Peacekeeping chief

Hervé Ladsous Hervé Ladsous (born 1950) is the former United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations. He was appointed to this position by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 2 September 2011, following Alain Le Roy. Ladsou ...

also spoke to the UNSC from

, where he attend a memorial service for the dead soldiers. He added that a combination of factors has led to the increase in attacks on U.N. troops, including the drawdown of French forces and a perceived lack of Malian security forces, as such MINUSMA, being the main international presence in the area, was a target. He further noted that the UN was no longer working in a

peacekeeping Peacekeeping comprises activities intended to create conditions that favour lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed warfare. Within the United N ...

environment, but sought to increase protection of the mission's staff, equipment and bases. On 20 January 2019 the MINUSMA base at Aguelhok was attacked by militants. The attack was repelled but 10 Chadian UN peacekeepers were killed and a further 25 injured. The militants had arrived on board a number of armed vehicles. Several of the attackers are said to have been killed. Responsibility was claimed by

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb ( ar-at, تنظيم القاعدة في بلاد المغرب الإسلامي, Tanẓīm al-Qā'idah fī Bilād al-Maghrib al-Islāmī), or AQIM, is an Islamist militant organization (of al-Qaeda) that aims to ...

who stated that it was a retaliatory attack for the recent visit to Chad by Israeli prime minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...

and the subsequent revival of Chad–Israel diplomatic relations. UN Secretary-General

António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres ( , ; born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat. Since 2017, he has served as secretary-general of the United Nations, the ninth person to hold this title. A member of the Portuguese Socia ...

condemned the attack. On 25 January 2019 Three members of Sri Lankan Peacekeeping troops deployed in Mali were killed, while three Corporals were injured, when their armoured vehicle came under an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack, in the general area of Douentza in Mali. The

reported that attacks in the northern

against a U.N. convoy killed three peacekeepers from Chad and injured four others. Secretary-General

and UN spokesman

Stephane Dujarric Stephane may refer to: * Stéphane, a French given name * Stephane (Ancient Greece), a vestment in ancient Greece * Stephane (Paphlagonia), a town of ancient Paphlagonia, now in Turkey {{dab ...

criticized the attacks, and said that they could account to war crimes as per the international law. On 10 May 2020 three UN MINUSMA peacekeepers were killed in action near Aguelhok. As of 31 March 2020, 209 MINUSMA troops died. Twenty MINUSMA troops were wounded, some seriously, in attacks by rebels in

Douentza Douentza (Fulfulde: ''Duwayⁿsa'') is a town and urban commune in the Mopti Region of central Mali. The town lies 145 km east-northeast of Mopti on the RN16, a paved road that links Mopti and Gao. It is the administrative center of the Do ...

, Mopti, on 10 February

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

. On 30 March 2021, MINUSMA published a report that concluded a French air strike on 3 January 2021 on the remote village of Bounti in Sahel state, killed at least 22 people, 19 of whom were civilians. The strike was carried out under Operation Eclipse – a joint operation involving armed forces from

and the

G5 Sahel G5 Sahel or G5S (french: G5 du Sahel) is an institutional framework for coordination of regional cooperation in development policies and security matters in west Africa. It was formed on 16 February 2014 in Nouakchott, Mauritania, at a summit of ...

. French military have denied wrongdoing saying the strike, by a Mirage 2000 bomber, had "neutralised" dozens of jihadists in a precision attack. On 3 October 2021, one Egyptian peacekeeper was killed, four of his colleagues seriously injured, in an IED attack. On 5 December 2021, two explosions hit MINUSMA barracks in

. The French army said there was only material damage and did not provide details about any possible origin of the blasts. On 8 December 2021, seven MINUSMA peacekeepers were killed when their convoy hit an improvised explosive device in central Mali, in the

Bandiagara Bandiagara () is a small town and urban commune in the Mopti Region of Mali. The name translates roughly to "large eating bowl"—referring to the communal bowl meals are served in. Mainly on its Bandiagara Escarpment it has about 2,000 speakers ...

area in the

Mopti Mopti ( Bambara: ߡߏߕߌ tr. Moti) is a town and an urban commune in the Inner Niger Delta region of Mali. The town is the capital of the Mopti Cercle and the Mopti Region. Situated 630 km northeast of Bamako, the town lies at the conflue ...

region when driving between the towns of

and

Sévaré Sévaré (or Sevare) is a town in the Mopti Region of Mali. It is a crossroads town of about 40,000 situated about southeast of Mopti and south of Fatoma, the old capital of Kunaari. From Sévaré one can access Bandiagara to the east, G ...

. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast. On 1 June 2022, a Jordanian member of the MINUSMA peacekeeping force was killed and three more injured in

Kidal Region Kidal Region ( Bambara: ߞߌߘߊߟ ߘߌߣߋߖߊ tr. Kidal Dineja) the eighth administrative region of Mali, covering . This area was formerly part of Gao Region, but was created as a separate region in 1991. It is located in the north of the coun ...

, Mali.

References

External links

* {{UN Peacekeeping Operations 2013 in international relations 2013 in Mali Politics of Mali Political organisations based in Mali United Nations operations in Africa Mali War Mali and the United Nations Military operations involving Portugal