United Nations: The UN Security Council approved the July 1 deployment of a new Mali peacekeeping force tasked with helping the government regain control of rebel-held areas and organize crucial elections while facing harsh logistical challenges in a vast desert territory.
The June 18 accord between Mali’s government and the Tuareg rebels has raised hopes that the West African country is on track to regaining stability after losing half its territory last year to a rebel invasion.
The 15-country Security Council unanimously decided the conditions are in place to start deploying the peacekeeping mission on July 1 as scheduled, Britain’s UN Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told.
The 12,640-member UN force will replace a 6,000-member African-led mission now in Mali. Some of the French troops who ousted radical Islamic groups from northern Mali in January will remain in the country, ready to intervene under a soon-to-be signed agreement if the UN mission comes under “imminent and serious threat,” said Herve Ladsous, the UN undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations.
French Ambassador Gerard Araud said some of the 3,000 French troops now in the country will begin withdrawing at the end of the summer with the aim of reducing the force to 1,200 by the end of 2013. (AP)