A French soldier stands guard at the Relay Desert Platform Camp (PfDR) during Operation Barkhane in Gossi, Mali, July 30, 2019.
(dpa)
The UN Security Council has extended the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (Minusma), in which the German Bundeswehr is also involved, by one year. 13 of the 15 members of the most powerful UN body voted in New York on Wednesday for a new United Nations mandate in the crisis country – China and Russia abstained.
However, Mali announced that it could not guarantee UN access to investigate human rights abuses – the government reserves the right not to authorize future investigations.
After a coup in Mali in 2020, the military seized power, severed ties with the former colonial power France and brought the Russian mercenary group Wagner into the country to counter the ever-increasing threat posed by militant Islamists.