United Nations: It is too premature to talk about a UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, where French troops are currently fighting al-Qaeda, a senior world body official has said, even as the powerful Security Council was told that the rise in organised crime and terrorism is threatening political stability in the country.
“I think it is premature to talk about a UN peacekeeping role,” Deputy UN Secretary General Jan Eliasson said at a press conference in Santiago, Chile, adding that “offensive operations” are going on right now in that country and “that is not an area the United Nations can be involved (in).”
He also said that the role of the United Nations in Mali is not completely clear.
“But I would hope that, once territorial integrity is established for Mali, if there is a need for UN programmes, even a UN presence on the ground, and if the Security Council requires this, … the United Nations can play a role,” Eliasson told reporters in response to a question.
“There was a French intervention when the extremist forces of the North tried to move South. This move has been stopped, and now there is preparation for certain countries in the region to come in and be active in the military operation,” he said.
The United Nations is asked to provide a support package, he said. “We are offering that, but it is not yet decided in the Security Council.” Observing that it is a very fluid situation in Mali, he said he understand fully the aspirations of the Mali people to unify their country, and above all to stop the repression and the very widespread violations of human rights that take place in the north of the country.
Eliasson said there was a plan to train the Malian army and to build up the capacity of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region, and then the role of the United Nations was to provide a support package for this operation as per a Security Council resolution. “Now with the crisis that occurred when there was an offensive as you know from the north to the south, the French came to Mali completely in line with international law, because it was at the request of the Malian Government that they came, so it is in line with international law,” he said. “The United Nations can play the role much more easily in situations in which you don’t have a real combat situation. So I think you should see this issue in stages. This is the present stage where we play a less active role. But then we definitely would want to have a very active role afterwards.
“And of course we fully stand behind the desire of the Malian people and the Malian government to re-establish unity in the nation and achieve territorial integrity. Particularly if this part of the country is characterised by violence and by serious breaches of human rights,” Eliasson said.
Meanwhile, another UN official told the Security Council yesterday that the current situation in Mali exemplifies the fragility and vulnerability that prevails in the whole of the Sahel region.
“I wish to stress that the situation in Mali exemplifies the fragility and vulnerability that prevails in the whole of the Sahel region, while at the same time the Malian crisis has far-reaching implications for the sub-region,” Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for West Africa, Said Djinit, told the 15-membered UN body.
He said the rise in organised crime and terrorism is threatening political stability in the country. As developments unfolded in Mali, the risks for infiltration and destabilisation are real in some of the countries that bordered it, as illustrated by the efforts of neighbouring countries to tighten security along the frontiers, he said.
Djinit said he is working closely with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and other stakeholders to support implementation of the African Union Strategic Concept adopted in October 2012. That plan emphasised Malian leadership, stressed the need for coordinated and sustained United Nations support, and set out seven objectives for the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA), he noted. (PTI)