The latest setback for the most dangerous UN peacekeeping mission in the world saw at least three UN peacekeepers killed and five seriously injured in central Mali when their convoy struck a roadside bomb.
An improvised explosive device was struck by the convoy on Tuesday, February 21, according to a tweet from the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali.
It was noted that the figure was provisional and left out information regarding the nationalities of those who had died and been injured.
Mali has been plagued by a conflict that began as a northern separatist movement in 2012 but has since devolved into a multitude of armed groups jockeying for control in the country’s central and northern regions.
Given the deteriorating security situation in the region, fighting has spread to nearby countries including Burkina Faso and Niger, sparking a humanitarian crisis.
ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda are both affiliated with some of the armed groups.
With more than 13,500 soldiers and police, the UN mission in Mali, which was established in 2013, is one of the world body’s biggest peacekeeping deployments.
However, it has experienced a high rate of casualties, particularly as a result of roadside bombs. At least 281 peacekeepers have been killed.
Following months of large-scale protests against alleged corruption and worsening security, the democratically elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was overthrown in a military coup in August 2020.
The military government has developed closer ties with the Kremlin, bringing in Russian paramilitaries and equipment, as relations with France, Mali’s traditional ally and former colonial power, spiralled downwards.
France withdrew its last soldiers from Mali last year.
The military government in Bamako frequently asserts that because it has switched its allegiance to Russia, it is gaining ground on the rebels.
It protested on Monday after Charles Michel, the head of the European Council, claimed that the Malian state was “collapsing” and that the rebels were encroaching further.
Author-Roberta Appiah
