Ivory Coast to withdraw from UN peacekeeping mission in Mali
Ivory Coast on Tuesday announced it would gradually withdraw its contribution of military and police from a United Nations peacekeeping force in Mali, a letter by its ambassador to the UN said.
The latter came after Mali detained 46 of its soldiers in July.
Mali accused the soldiers of being mercenaries. Ivory Coast said they were part of a security and logistics contingent working under the peacekeeping mission and made repeated pleas for their release.
Ivory Coast informed the UN it has stopped rotating troops and would not replace personnel in the peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA) in August 2023, according to a letter to a senior UN peacekeeping official dated November 11 and seen by Reuters.
Two senior Ivory Coast security sources confirmed the decision.
Mali, Ivory Coast and MINUSMA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mali has relied on regional allies and peacekeepers for a decade to contain an Islamist insurgency that has killed thousands of people and taken over large areas of the centre and north.
(Reuters/NAN)
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