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UN / MALI WRAP
STORY: UN / MALI WRAP (v0003)
TRT: 2.51
SOURCE: UNIFEED-UNTV / MINUSMA
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /FRENCH /NATS
DATELINE: 8 OCTOBER 2014, NEW YORK CITY / RECENT
RECENT:
1. Med shot, exterior of the UN headquarters
8 OCTOBER 2014, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council Chamber
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Herve Ladsous, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations:
“We are in a situation where we are not anymore in a peacekeeping environment and this beholds on us to take a number of measures to face these asymmetric threats.”
4. Wide shot, Chamber
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Herve Ladsous, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations:
“We need the support of all the people in northern Mali. We need the support of the armed groups who should be able to make us better aware of what is happening on the ground, we need the support of the countries in the vicinity who know some people, some of these groups, who also can relay the call for support to MINUSMA, because at the end of the day, we cannot face the threat alone.”
6. Close up, delegates
7. Wide shot, Chamber
8. SOUNDBITE (French) Abdoulaye Diop, Minister of Foreign Affaires, African integration and international cooperation of Mali:
“In that regard, the Council needs as soon as possible to revise the mandate of MINUSMA and to reinforce its capacities and needs to face the renewed violence on the ground, together with Operation Barkhane.
9. Pan left, Chamber
10. SOUNDBITE (French) Abdoulaye Diop, Minister of the Foreign Affaires, African integration and international cooperation of Mali:
“In any case, it is crucial to prevent that connection with ISIS go stronger and spread across the region of Sahel. To do that, the Security Council needs to assure a full cooperation of the armed groups in the north of Mali in the fight against the terrorism, as agreed in Algeria.
11. Wide shot, Chamber
7 OCTOBER 2014, BAMAKO, MALI
12. Pan right, Ladsous enters press room
13. Wide shot, journalists
14. SOUNDBITE (French) Herve Ladsous, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations:
“We cannot, we do not want and it is not our job to substitute the authorities of Mali, their security forces that for the moment are essentially absent from the north. But that is the point which, once the agreement is reached in Algeria will have to be remediated and from then on it is clear that the responsibility will be assumed by the Malian authorities.”
15. Wide shot, press room
Thirty-one peacekeepers have been killed in Mali over last 15 months.
United Nations (UN) peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous warned today that that the UN in Mali is no longer operating in “peacekeeping environment.”
In his briefing to the Security Council via videolink from the country’s capital Bamako, Ladsous warned that the security situation in the country is of concern as the rate of attack against MINUSMA operations has increased “substantially and steeply” amid a reduction in the presence of French troops and the “quasi-disappearance” of Malian armed forces from many places in the north.
This has created a situation in which MINUSMA is the main security presence on the ground which in return made it target for “all these spoilers – extremists, jihadists, traffickers – who would want to have the ground exclusively to themselves so as to carry-on with their nefarious activities.”
The Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations warned the Council members that “we are in a situation where we are not anymore in a peacekeeping environment and this behoves on us to take a number of measures to face these asymmetric threats.”
Ladsous pointed out that the Mission was working “very actively” on a number of measures designed to strengthen the protection for MINUSMA bases, camps, equipment, and people in the face of what he described as “a whole range of threats,” including unguided rockets fired randomly, mortar shells, suicide attacks, and ambushes.
However, he said that to deal with the threat, MINUSMA needs support of “armed groups who should be able to make us better aware of what is happening on the ground, we need the support of the countries in the vicinity who know some people, some of these groups, who also can relay the call for support to MINUSMA.”
The Under-Secretary-General also voiced frustration over the “slow” progress in peace negotiations, adding that “both on the side of the Government and on the side of the armed groups, a credible effort needs to be made to find a compromise based on mutual trust and reciprocal good will.”
Mali’s foreign minister Abdoulaye Diop who also joined via videolink said that during the negotiations in Algeria, his government firmly rejected “the idea of federation or creation of a new state on Malian territory.
He demanded the Council to revise the mandate of MINUSMA ‘as soon as possible” and to reinforce its capacities and needs to face the renewed violence on the ground, together with Operation Barkhane.”
Diop proposed that the Council create a rapid intervention force capable of effectively fighting the terrorists, He emphasized the need to prevent “the connection with ISIS from growing stronger and spreading across the region of Sahel.”
To do that, the Security Council “needs to assure a full cooperation of the armed groups in the north of Mali in the fight against the terrorism”, said Diop.
Under-Secretary-General Ladsous was in Mali to participate in memorial service to 9 peacekeepers from Niger killed in an ambush on 3 October. Later, at a press conference, he outlined the responsibilities of MINUSMA.
He said, “we cannot, we do not want and it is not our job to substitute the authorities of Mali, their security forces that for the moment are essentially absent from the north. But that is the point which, once the agreement is reached in Algeria will have to be remediated and from then on it is clear that the responsibility will be assumed by the Malian authorities.”
The 15 members of the Council urged the Government of Mali to “swiftly” investigate the attack and bring the perpetrators to justice, adding that “those responsible for the attack shall be held accountable.” They also warned that such attacks may constitute war crimes under international law and reaffirmed the need to combat by all means, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.
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