UNITED NATIONS – The UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Mr Hervé Ladsous, says as ‘serious’ fighting continues among warring armed groups in Mali, the strife-torn nation’s ongoing peace talks had reached a crucial stage and must move forward.
According to a Security Council document released to UN correspondents in New York on Wednesday, Ladsous said this while briefing the 15-Member Security Council on the latest report on the situation in Mali.
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He said: “In such a context, more than ever before, we need to issue an appeal to all parties to put an end to violations of the ceasefire.”
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Ladsous said it is critical that all parties show faith on the ground in Mali and around the negotiating table in Algiers.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
He said the security situation in the country’s north remained “extremely volatile”, thwarting socio-economic development, human rights, and the entry and distribution of much-needed humanitarian aid.
He also said threats against the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) staff remained very high.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
Since July 2013, the Under-Secretary-General, said 33 MINUSMA peacekeepers had died and 109 had been injured.
He also said in the last few days, peacekeepers had also been attacked on a daily basis, he said, citing incidents against United Nations truck convoys near Gao, as well as in Mampala, a central town along the Mauritanian border.
The Government of Mali and armed groups, he said, planned to meet in early February to discuss the terms of a draft peace agreement presented in November.
Ladsous said three rounds of talks held since July 2014, under the auspices of the Algerian Government, with support from MINUSMA, had led to “fairly modest” progress.
However, he said, they had yet to address the root causes of the crisis.
“We don’t want the same causes in the future producing the same effects,” he said, stressing “for the first time the international community, first and foremost the United Nations, is directly involved and actively committed”.
Political will and a decisive spirit, he said, is needed to advance the talks and the final peace agreement must include detailed arrangements for implementation.
He said, for its part, MINUSMA has stepped up efforts to implement ceasefire arrangements during the reporting period of Sept. 16, to Dec. 16.
“On Dec. 16, the Mission convened the first meeting of the expanded Mixed Technical Commission on Security.
“The parties agreed to hold subsequent meetings on the fifteenth of every month and by Jan. 16 to form the Kidal team of the Timbuktu joint observation and verification team set up to monitor compliance with the ceasefire.’’
He referred the 15-member body to the Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon-Moon’s report to the Council President on operational support provided by French forces to MINUSMA from Sept. 18 to Dec. 2, 2014.
Ladsous pointed to steps taken to strengthen the Mission’s operating capacity and address security conditions in the north.
He said MINUSMA would continue to develop ambitious plans to protect against land mines and improvised explosive devices.
Additionally, he said, the Mission was in the process of identifying a new Force Commander to replace Jean Bosco Kazura (Rwanda), who had finished his tour of duty in mid-December.
Following Ladsous’ briefing, Mr Abdoulaye Diop, Mali’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, African Integration and International Cooperation, told the Council that inspite of last week’s deadly attacks in his country, a peace agreement was imminent.
“These are the last hundred paces. We are very close, but we must ensure we cover that last hundred metres and make the sacrifices that we have to make,” Diop said.
Emphasising that compromises and sacrifices were necessary, Diop added that an agreement was more than possible, but that all parties would have to continue to work actively towards that end.
“If we miss this opportunity at the beginning of 2015, I’m afraid this might spin out of control,” he stated.
Diop said that negotiations in Algiers would hopefully result in a peace agreement with armed groups in the north and a restructuring of the country to ensure inclusion of all Malians.
He said President Ibrahim Keita had committed to such an agreement as well as to peace, stability, territorial integrity, social cohesion, justice, inclusion and national reconciliation.
However, the secular nature of Mali was “non-negotiable”, he said.
At the same time, he said, constant flare-ups of attacks by armed groups against certain communities clearly showed that they wanted to protect certain areas.
Diop said ECOWAS and the Heads of State of the “G-5 Sahel” have committed to Mali’s territorial integrity and its unitary nature.
To ensure progress, he called on Security Council members to use their influence to lead those armed groups in question to the negotiation process.
First, he said, the Libyan crisis needed to be addressed.
He stressed that as long as that situation was left unresolved, the Malian crisis would be impossible to resolve.
Appealing for the Security Council to establish with the African Union a force to neutralise armed groups, help with national reconciliation and to set up stable, democratic institutions in Libya, he said he hoped the next African Union meeting in Addis Ababa would see progress in that area.
On the spread of Ebola virus, he paid tribute to the Secretary-General’s personal commitment to fight the scourge.
Inspite of efforts to end the spread of the virus, Diop said, the threat remained and Mali continued to promote prevention initiatives. (NAN)
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