Mali: l'ONU approuve le déploiement d'une force de sécurité

April 25, 2013

French Article Translation of the Week

"Mali: l'ONU approuve le déploiement d'une force de sécurité"

"Une résolution mise au point par la France a été adoptée à l'unanimité par le Conseil de sécurité de l'Organisation des Nations unies, jeudi 25 avril, ouvrant la voie au déploiement de douze mille six cents casques bleus au Mali dès le 1er juillet. Cette force de maintien de la paix sera chargée de stabiliser le nord du pays, après l'intervention française contre les islamistes qui contrôlaient cette région."

"A resolution developed by France was unanimously adopted by the Security Council of the United Nations on Thursday, April 25, paving the way for the deployment of twelve thousand six hundred peacekeepers to be sent to Mali from July 1 onwards. This peacekeeping force will be responsible for stabilizing the North of the country, to reinforce the area after the French intervention against the Islamists who controlled the region."

This article has been translated from French. Click here to read the original version on LeMonde.

In the next sixty days, the [Security] Council will determine if the on-the-ground security conditions will allow for deployment from 1 July. This "integrated UN Mission for Stabilization in Mali" (Minusma), which will take over the Misma (Pan-African force), will be sent "for an initial period of twelve months."

Stabilizing Urban Areas, Especially in the North

The Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, welcomed this as "an important step". "The adoption of this resolution is a success. It confirms the unanimous support of the international community to stabilize Mali, as well as the intervention of France and the United States in the region to help this country."

The Minusma will include a maximum of 11,200 soldiers and 1,440 police officers, including "reserve battalions capable of rapid deployment." It will not be a counterterrorism mission, but will "stabilize key urban centers, particularly in the North" and "prevent a return of armed elements to these areas." The peacekeepers will also protect civilians and cultural heritage and monitor compliance with human rights.

They will also help the Malian authorities establish "a national political dialogue," to organize "free, fair and transparent elections" and to promote reconciliation with the Touareg North. A special UN representative for Mali will be appointed to lead the Minusma.

3850 French Soldiers Still in Mali

The text also authorizes "the French troops to intervene in support of Minusma in case of serious and imminent danger" or on request by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

One thousand French troops will remain in Mali to counter a possible guerrilla armed Islamist group. The French army also has rear bases in Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Chad. The French contingent in Mali must go from 3,850 soldiers today to 2,000 in July and a thousand by the end of 2013. At the height of operation "Serval", launched on January 11, it had nearly 4,500 men.