Côte d’Ivoire to gradually withdraw its troops from the UN mission in Mali











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ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Côte d’Ivoire will gradually reduce its contribution to the peacekeeping mission in Mali (Minusma), according to a letter addressed to a UN official by the Ivorian ambassador to the United Nations consulted by Reuters.

This decision follows the arrest in July of 46 Ivorian soldiers whom the ruling junta in Bamako accuses of being mercenaries. Côte d’Ivoire, which says they were part of a contingent responsible for providing security and logistics on behalf of Minusma, is insistently demanding their release.

In the letter sent to a head of United Nations peacekeeping operations, dated November 11, the Ivorian ambassador indicates that his country has ceased to ensure staff rotations and that it will not renew its commitment in August 2023.

Two Ivorian security officials confirmed the decision to Reuters.

The departure of foreign troops from Mali is accelerating since Bamako called in the Wagner group of Russian mercenaries and as the security situation deteriorates rapidly in the north and center of the country.

After France, which completed the withdrawal of the last soldiers from Operation Barkhane this summer, Great Britain announced on Monday that it would withdraw its troops and its logistical means engaged in support of Minusma.

(Report by Ange Aboa and David Lewis, written by Hereward Holland, French version Tangi Salaün, edited by Sophie Louet)










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