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While the UN voiced concern over an escalation of fighting in in Azawad in northern Mali, the Malian foreign minister Abdoulaye Diop said this weekend that the withdrawal of United Nations peacekeepers from the region would go ahead before 31 December.
“Heightened tensions and the increasingly hostile presence of armed groups in northern Mali are likely to impede the departure of the UN Stabilisation Mission there (MINUSMA),” the UN wrote in a note to correspondents issued on Saturday.
Since late August, rival armed groups have been seeking to seize territory, while the UN mission there is about to pull out.
The junta in power in Bamako has responded by sending an influx of troops there.
The departure of MINUSMA by the end of 2023 is part of an ongoing security plan launched by the military junta, which seized power in 2020.
Departure schedule maintained
The junta insists that they will stick to the departure schedule as planned.
“The government does not foresee any extension of this deadline,” he added.
(with newswires)
Read more on RFI English
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