The Dutch contingent of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali is withdrawing its seven helicopters from the operation by spring, leaving a wide hole in reconnaissance and intelligence gathering for the mission that desperately needs those assets. With no immediate supplier for replacement helicopters in sight, the withdrawal presents an additional strain on the mission, … Read more
In a narrow vote conducted over seven hours amid five rounds of inconclusive balloting between Italy and the Netherlands for an elected seat on the United Nations Security Council, the two nations decided to split the two-year term. Italy will get one year, as of January 2017; and the Netherlands will take the seat in … Read more
Since its rollout in 2013, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali has been actively recruiting more European troops to strengthen its ranks of police, military and civilian personnel from African and Asian countries, typical sources for UN missions. The mission’s main mandate is to protect civilians, stabilize the country and carry out a peace … Read more
Malians elected their first president since an interim president was installed after the 2012 coup and French military action in 2013 against incursions by Islamic jihadists. In a run-off vote on Aug. 11, amid blanket rain and rampant mud in Bamako, the capital, Malians there and beyond put Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, 68, a former … Read more
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Albert Gerard Koenders as the first special envoy to Mali under a new peacekeeping mission created by the Security Council in late April. Additionally, the next executive director of the Security Council’s Counterterrorism Committee Executive Directorate is most likely to be announced soon, with the front-runner being Jean-Paul Laborde … Read more
