UN to Mali: ‘Expedite Civilian Rule!’
The United Nations has urged Mali’s junta to “expedite” the process of returning to civilian rule by early 2024 as promised, its chief said in a report received Tuesday by AFP.
In the quarterly Security Council report on Mali, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern about persistent violence against civilians and problems implementing a peace agreement between the state and armed groups in the north.
The Security Council is scheduled to meet Wednesday.
Guterres did note “progress” made on the democratic transition, citing a draft for a new constitution and a new electoral management authority.
But, he said, “critical activities identified in the electoral timetable” have faced delays.
“With less than a year left before the planned end of the Transition, it behooves the Malian authorities to do all that is in their power to expedite the process, with a view to meeting the agreed deadline for the return to constitutional order,” he said.
A referendum on the draft constitution was due to be held on March 19 but has been postponed until further notice.
Guterres expressed concern at the “ongoing impasse” and “continued paralysis” in the application of a peace agreement with armed groups.
A UN stabilization mission, MINUSMA, has been deployed in the Sahel country since 2013.
Since 2020, Mali has been ruled by a military junta, which has bowed to international pressure to return to democracy by March 2024.
Mali has been battling a security and political crisis since jihadist and separatist insurgencies broke out in the north in 2012. The violence has spread to the center of the country – and to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger – and continues to move south.
The implementation of the peace deal, signed in 2015 in Algiers, is seen as a key step in bringing stability to the country.
But the signatories, in particular Tuareg groups, are at loggerheads with the junta.
“The need for the parties to overcome the current impasse is made even more urgent by the prevailing security situation, particularly in the north-eastern part of Mali, where civilians are under relentless attack by terrorist groups, with all the attendant humanitarian consequences”, Guterres said.
