DÉFENSE ZONE
In a statement read on the national television news on 5 February, Mali’s junta demanded the departure of the director of MINUSMA’s human rights division, Guillaume Ngefa-Atondoko Andali. He “must leave the national territory within 48 hours”.
Photo credit: MINUSMA/Harandane Dicko
This decision follows a speech delivered at the UN ten days ago by a Malian human rights defender. The young woman’s address, denouncing the security situation in the country and what she described as the involvement of the Malian army’s new Russian allies in serious violations, had been very badly received by the ruling Malian junta.
“During the various sessions of the United Nations Security Council on Mali, Mr Andali’s actions consisted of selecting usurpers claiming the title of representatives of Malian civil society, ignoring the national authorities and institutions”, the government spokesman, Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, fumed live on television.
France, through the Quai d’Orsay (the French Foreign Ministry), “strongly condemned” the decision and praised “the commitment and work of MINUSMA and its human rights division, which have brought to light the serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law suffered by the Malian population, for which terrorist groups but also Wagner’s Russian mercenaries in particular are responsible”.
Created by the UN in 2013, the MINUSMA mission aims to help the Malian state stabilise a country threatened with collapse under the jihadist advance, protect civilians, contribute to the peace effort and defend human rights.
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