Mali’s interim military government has asked the UN to remove its peacekeeping forces from the country in response to mounting pressure from citizens against UN peacekeepers after a decade of unsuccessful peacekeeping operations. After a 2013 rebellion was hijacked by terrorist organisations linked to Al-Quaeda and ISIL (ISIS) the UN mission referred to as MINUSMA has been in-country to support Malian troops fighting these organisations. Over the past decade, instability has increased despite the UN and Malian governments’ efforts.  The last three years have been some of the most violent as coups in 2020 led to governmental instability and a military junta taking control that Western European nations have struggled to please. This call for withdrawal comes ahead of a controversial election that the government promises will begin the process of a return to regular civilian governance. 

The head of MINUSMA, El Ghassim Wane, highlighted the importance of being able to work with the nation in a meeting with UN officials saying “absent that consent, of course, operations are nearly impossible”. Difficulty working with Malian officials has been one of the major issues of the mission from the Malian perspective, especially with the new military-led government. “The real issue is not the number of peacekeepers but the functions, and one of the key tasks for the government of Mali is fighting terrorism, which is not provided for in the mandate of the blue helmets” is what Russian UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said at the same meeting. Nebenzia may not be an unbiased source of information as Wagner, a Russian mercenary corporation, was called out by MINUSMA for partaking in the Moura massacre in March 2022. 

Russia’s influence on Mali right now cannot be overlooked because its consequences will not be good for the innocent citizens already greatly affected by the region’s instability. While MINUSMA is not militarily involved as much as the interim government wants them to be, they still play an essential role in helping the region. The public perception of their role, however, has been negatively affected by Russia, and its portrayal of the Western European and US forces as furthering colonial goals, ineffective, and unwilling to actually tackle the issue. They may partially be right as the UN’s goal is not to destroy the terrorist organisations; their goal is to try and build peace and protect people and MINUSMA has been effective at this. They worked with multiple groups in the region to broker peace and cease-fire agreements in the past and are currently the only form of support for many communities in Northern Mali which is entirely controlled by rebels. Peace takes time and the conflict will not be solved through intense military involvement that entirely destroys terrorist groups. The Russian government has convinced many Malian citizens and government officials that with their support, they can easily wipe out the terrorist groups and restore peace. This strategy is reminiscent of the US’s approach to terrorism in the middle east which was highly ineffective. The UN’s strategy of slowly building toward peace is worthy of a proper try and should not be dismissed on the basis of Russian influence. 

To learn more about the history of the Sahel region and the war on terror you can read OWP’s page here. It is important to know that the US’s post-9/11 approach was ineffective in so many ways and partially driven by a desire for power and profit. Believing that Russian officials are driven by anything different or will be more effective in the same approach is dangerous to many innocent civilians who right not rely on UN support. 

The UN has until June 30th to finalize its decision to withdraw, stay, or change its approach, but it is clear that other than withdrawing, support from Malians no longer exists which would make already difficult missions harder. While MINUSMA will probably be leaving Mali, they will still be present in neighboring countries. They should be given as much support as possible by international communities to help this region through a long-standing peace-building process which is worth a try given the consequences of the previous war on terror.