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Amid diplomatic tensions between Bamako and its partners, the rotation of contingents for the United Nations Mission in Mali (Minusma), which had been suspended for a month, will resume on Monday with a new approval mechanism, a spokesman said on Saturday. . .
Troop rotations at the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali will resume on Monday, a mission spokesman said on Saturday (Aug 13), a month after Malian authorities suspended their work and accused foreign soldiers of entering the country without permission .
Mali’s ruling military junta suspended troop rotation on 14 July for the mission of nearly 12,000 after it arrested 49 Ivorian soldiers who allegedly arrived in the country without permission. Côte d’Ivoire denies the allegations.
The rotation will resume after discussions with representatives of the mission, known as Minusma, on how to coordinate troop deployments, she said.
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Simplified rotation procedure
The July arrests highlighted friction between the military junta that seized power in a coup in August 2020 and international partners criticized for delaying elections and security cooperation with Russian mercenaries.
Côte d’Ivoire said the soldiers were deployed under a support agreement with Minusma, established in 2013 to provide security against Islamist rebels. Ivorian soldiers remain detained.
A MINUSMA spokesman said the mission and the Malian authorities had agreed to simplify the rotation process and the mission’s request to resume the rotation on Monday had been accepted.
Mali’s foreign ministry could not be immediately reached for comment.
Relations between Mali and countries providing military aid remain tense. On Friday, Germany said it would suspend a military reconnaissance mission to provide intelligence to MINUSMA after Malian authorities refused a flight permit.
Mali’s foreign minister denied on Twitter that the government had done so and called on Germany to join a new mechanism for approving the rotation of troops.
with Reuters