Mali hosted Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, for a two-day working visit. His visit allows him to meet with national authorities in preparation for the planned withdrawal of the UN mission by December 31, 2023.

The first part of his visit took him to the city of Mopti, where he was accompanied by the head of MINUSMA, El-Ghassim Wane. In Mopti, they were received by the governor of the city, Colonel Major Abass Dembele.

“We discussed the importance of preserving as much as possible the achievements of the presence of MINUSMA and, of course, the importance of ensuring that all the conditions are met for the withdrawal of MINUSMA to take place within the best possible conditions,” says La Croix.

In July, the United Nations Security Council unanimously voted to end its decade-long peacekeeping mission in Mali after a request from its military government to withdraw troops.

The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission (MINUSMA) was created by the Security Council in 2013 to deal with the uprising of armed groups linked to al-Qaeda in northern Mali.