A suicide attack on the United Nations (UN) base in the town of Ansongeo in Northern Mali, on the 15^th of April, has brought into light new perspectives that terrorism has taken. The incident that killed three civilians and nine UN peacekeepers has demonstrated that even the protagonists of peace can be the targets of terrorist attacks. The United Nations, as a global body, plays a significant role in increasing international and regional stability through increasing security and military aid and undertaking peacekeeping missions. Stability in many regions around the globe is questionable and as such, requires the UN to intervene in times of crisis.

The attacks in Mali, as described by the UN Secretary General, were aimed at “altering the determination of the UN to support the Mali People in search for peace”.  There has been an increasing number of assaults and attacks against UN personnel and other contractors in UN regions of Kidal and Gao regions. On the January, 2013 the president of the UN Security Council for the month, Ambassador Masood Khan, pointed towards UN efforts in tackling peacekeeping efforts and terrorism. He addressed the need for the Security Council to have a holistic view of continuing threats of international terrorism against peacekeeping and sought to develop new coherent means of responding to this menace. The UN Security Council has since pointed out that targeting peacekeepers possibly constitutes to war crimes under new international law. The UN has the capacity to counter proliferations in weapons of mass destruction, aspects of terrorism crimes and drugs, all geared towards bringing about peaceful societies, devoid of  violence and anarchy.

Since 2013, at least 35 UN troops have been killed and more than 140 wounded in Mali in a bid to bring an end to the conflict facing parts of the nation. The UN decided to take charge of the peacekeeping and peace-building efforts after the successful seizing of northern cities from Islamist militants. Following the seizure, the al-Qaeda-linked militants fled to the Cosmic Sahara desert. The militants have since committed several terrorist acts, carried out several suicide bombings and engaged in hit-and-run attacks on UN troops.

The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) is the main peacekeeping mission in the country. Under the mandate of the Security Council, the mission aims at establishing peace and order in Mali, a country plagued by insurgency and proliferation of Islamist militants aimed at destabilizing the country. In a statement, the mission expressed concerns that UN personnel aiming at advancing positive interests to the country were in fact becoming targets of terrorism. It said it would increase its efforts in monitoring developments in close association with Malian security forces and other forces under the “Operation Barkhane”. The statement further stated the mission’s willingness and a bid to support regional and local authorities with a retort to the attack and in line with its mandate to protect populations. The mission called on all responsible parties in the conflict plaguing the nation to work towards establishing an immiscible path towards dialogue processes in the search for long lasting peace in the country.