{"id":444,"date":"2021-02-17T11:38:01","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T11:38:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apstaafrica.org\/peacekeepingthismonth\/?p=444"},"modified":"2021-02-17T11:38:06","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T11:38:06","slug":"mali-un-chief-says-complex-attack-against-blue-helmets-may-constitute-war-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apstaafrica.org\/peacekeepingthismonth\/2021\/02\/17\/mali-un-chief-says-complex-attack-against-blue-helmets-may-constitute-war-crime\/","title":{"rendered":"Mali: UN chief says \u2018complex attack\u2019 against blue helmets may constitute war crime"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Secretary-General\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sg\/fr\/content\/sg\/biography\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ant\u00f3nio Guterres<\/a> condemned\u202f&nbsp;on Saturday, a \u201ccomplex attack\u201d against the UN mission in the West African country of Mali&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An assault on Thursday by unidentified armed elements on a temporary operating base of the UN Integrated Stabilization Mission for Mali (<a href=\"https:\/\/minusma.unmissions.org\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">MINUSMA<\/a>) in&nbsp;Kerena, near&nbsp;Douentza&nbsp;in Central Mali, \u202fresulted in\u202fthe death of a Togolese peacekeeper and the wounding of\u202f27 others.\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sg\/en\/content\/sg\/statement\/2021-02-13\/statement-attributable-the-spokesperson-for-the-secretary-general-mali%C2%A0scroll-down-for-french\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">statement<\/a> issued by his spokesperson, St\u00e9phane Dujarric, the UN chief emphasized that attacks against UN blue helmets \u201cmay constitute a war crime\u201d and called on the Malian authorities to \u201cspare no efforts\u202fin\u202fpromptly\u202fholding to account the perpetrators of this heinous attack\u201d.\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=UN_News_Centre&amp;dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1360553705649696769&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.un.org%2Fen%2Fstory%2F2021%2F02%2F1084662&amp;siteScreenName=UN_News_Centre&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=889aa01%3A1612811843556&amp;width=550px\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Secretary-General expressed his deep condolences to the victim\u2019s family and to the people and Government of Togo and wished the injured a\u202ffull recovery.\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Malian Government has been seeking to restore stability and rebuild the volatile country\u2019s institutions following a series of setbacks since early 2012 that fractured the country, including a failed\u202fcoup d&#8217;\u00e9tat, renewed fighting between Government forces and Tuareg rebels, and the short-lived seizure of its northern territory by radical extremists.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Security Council castigation&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Previously, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/securitycouncil\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Security Council<\/a> had issued a statement condemning the attack \u201cin the strongest terms\u201d while stressing that involvement in \u201cplanning, directing, sponsoring or conducting attacks against MINUSMA peacekeepers constitutes a basis for sanctions designations\u201d, pursuant to its resolutions.\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moreover, they reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations \u201cconstitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security\u201d.\u202f&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Council underlined the need to \u201cbring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice\u201d and upheld that those responsible be held accountable.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They urged all States, to \u201ccooperate actively with all relevant authorities\u201d and reiterated that any \u201cacts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable\u201d, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Overcoming asymmetric threats&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The Council members expressed their concern over the security situation in Mali as well as the transnational terrorist threat in the Sahel region, reiterating their full support of MINUSMA and other security presences in the country and throughout the Sahel region.\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They urged the Malian parties to \u201cfully implement the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/pdfs\/EN-ML_150620_Accord-pour-la-paix-et-la-reconciliation-au-Mali_Issu-du-Processus-d'Alger.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation<\/a> in Mali without further delay\u201d, which they noted could, along with intensified efforts to overcome \u201casymmetric threats\u201d, contribute to improved security across the State.\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The members further underscored the importance that MINUSMA have&nbsp;the necessary capacities to fulfil its mandate.\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe members of the Security Council stressed that these heinous acts will not undermine their determination to continue to support the peace and reconciliation process in Mali\u201d, the statement concluded.\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ray of light&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The attack on Thursday came on the same day of a historic meeting in Kidal of the Monitoring Committee of the Peace Agreement\u202f.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The high-level meeting, chaired by Algerian Foreign Minister Sabri Boukadoum, brought together six Malian Ministers, the leadership of the signatory armed movements and the International Mediation and marked its first meeting outside of Bamako since it was signed in 2015.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Secretary-General had <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/sg\/en\/content\/sg\/statement\/2021-02-12\/statement-attributable-the-spokesperson-for-the-secretary-general-mali%C2%A0scroll-down-for-french\" target=\"_blank\">congratulated\u202f<\/a>the\u202fMalian\u202fpeople and welcomed the \u201cnew momentum and\u2026growing trust among the signatory parties\u201d and encouraged them\u202fto \u201cbuild upon this positive dynamic by translating the agreed commitments into actions so that the\u202fMalian people could reap the benefits of peace\u201d.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/en\/story\/2021\/02\/1084662\">https:\/\/news.un.org\/en\/story\/2021\/02\/1084662<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Secretary-General\u202fAnt\u00f3nio Guterres condemned\u202f&nbsp;on Saturday, a \u201ccomplex attack\u201d against the UN mission in the West African country of Mali&nbsp; An assault on Thursday by unidentified armed elements on a temporary operating base of the UN Integrated Stabilization Mission for Mali (MINUSMA) in&nbsp;Kerena, near&nbsp;Douentza&nbsp;in Central Mali, \u202fresulted&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":445,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-peace-and-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apstaafrica.org\/peacekeepingthismonth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apstaafrica.org\/peacekeepingthismonth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apstaafrica.org\/peacekeepingthismonth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apstaafrica.org\/peacekeepingthismonth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apstaafrica.org\/peacekeepingthismonth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apstaafrica.org\/peacekeepingthismonth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":446,"href":"https:\/\/apstaafrica.org\/peacekeepingthismonth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444\/revisions\/446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apstaafrica.org\/peacekeepingthismonth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apstaafrica.org\/peacekeepingthismonth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apstaafrica.org\/peacekeepingthismonth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apstaafrica.org\/peacekeepingthismonth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}