Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Special Representative Wane, for your briefings. And I’d like to offer you a belated thanks for the support you provided to the Security Council when visited Mali in October last year. I’d also like to commend Ms. Adam Dicko for her briefing. And I’d like to welcome the presence of the PR from Mali, and we look forward to your response to the comments made here today.
Today, I’d like to address three broad topics: attacks on peacekeepers, the implementation of the Political Transition and the Algiers Peace Accord, and the increasingly volatile security situation.
First, the United States, like others, expresses our deep condolences to the families of the civilians and peacekeepers killed in attacks on MINUSMA late last year, as well as the Governments of Mali, Egypt, and Togo. Particularly troubling are the number of attacks carried out with improvised explosive devices. Peacekeepers must have necessary equipment to ensure their safety given these threats. To this end, the United States will continue to support peacekeeper safety by providing necessary training and equipment through our Global Peace Operations Initiative, but we also urge and implore the Government of Mali to work with MINUSMA to improve the security environment.
Second: we need to support every effort from MINUSMA, ECOWAS, and others to help the Malian transition authorities to implement the Political Transition and the Algiers Peace Accord. During the Security Council’s visit to Mali in October the fragile security and political situation was on display. We support and commend ECOWAS and mediator Goodluck Jonathan in their engagement with the transitional government to facilitate a return to democracy in Mali. We commend the strong actions taken by ECOWAS on January 9 in support of democracy and stability. For those who call for an African solution, I hope you support ECOWAS’s leadership. I commend the A3 for your strong statement today.
We share ECOWAS’s deep disappointment with the blatant lack of political will shown by the Mali transition government to make progress toward organizing elections, as it committed to do following the August 2020 coup d’état. We urge the transitional government to keep its pledge to the Malian people to return their country to democracy. It is what the people of Mali have asked for; it’s what they want; it is what they deserve. A five-year transition is not in their interest and extends the pain of the people.
Elections must be free and fair; they must be transparent. That means promoting the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women, both on the ballot and by registering to vote. And it means using domestic election observers to facilitate those free and fair elections in a timely way. To help with those ends, we welcome Boudjemaa Delmi’s leadership of the Algiers Accord Monitoring Committee. But we need concrete progress to implement the Algiers Accord.
Let us recall the specific benchmarks in Resolution 2584 – in particular, the integration of the remaining ex-combatants as part of an accelerated demobilization, disarmament, and reintegration process. We have to reach that benchmark. And we have to meaningfully include women-led civil society groups and operationalize the women’s observatory, too. In Mali the Council met with a number of these groups and they were quite impressive. As you’ve heard from the SRSG, we must work to return Mali to a path for peace and stability.
Third, I want to discuss the increasingly volatile security situation, as evidenced by the audacity, the frequency, and severity of attacks against civilians, national security forces, international forces, and MINUSMA. Widespread intercommunal violence. Terrible gender-based violence. An increasingly dire situation in central Mali. This is not the Mali that I know over many years of working in that country and it deserves the attention of the Security Council.
MINUSMA’s work on behalf of Malian women who have experienced sexual violence is particularly important. Malian authorities can, should, and must pursue these cases and deliver justice for these women. MINUSMA also needs, following the Secretary-General’s proposal, an increase to its troop ceiling. This will help protect civilians in central Mali with more quick reaction forces and air assets and enhance the safety and security of peacekeepers through explosive ordnance removal teams. The transition government has the primary responsibility to ensure the safety, security, and freedom of movement of UN personnel and assets. As a reminder, those involved in planning, directing, sponsoring, or conducting attacks against MINUSMA peacekeepers may be subject to sanctions. The transition government should carry out transparent and credible investigations and hold those responsible accountable.
As noted by others, we are particularly concerned about the reported presence of individuals linked to the Wagner Group. Based on their pattern of human rights abuses, and threats against UN peacekeepers in other contexts, they could pose a danger to MINUSMA peacekeepers and to the people of Mali. MINUSMA deserves to have clarity on whether these so-called contractors are part of official bilateral assistance, and if so, they need to be held accountable by their country of origin.
The transition government must also do its part to protect civilians, create conditions for stability, and address social grievances and root causes of instability, as stressed by Ms. Dicko.
As the Security Council has made clear before, the transition government needs a comprehensive strategy; one designed to protect civilians, reduce intercommunal violence, re-establish State authority, presence, and basic social services in central Mali, and to have timely elections. This comprehensive strategy is the key to progress. It will advance all our shared security, development, human rights, and humanitarian goals. And if it’s done right, it will lead to peace and security throughout Mali. It is what the people of Mali deserve.
Ambassador Issa, our goal is to work with you. It’s to work with Mali to find a lasting solution for Mali and for its people. I know that a Mali isolated from its community of nations and ECOWAS is not where Mali wants to be. A Mali, a subject of Security Council discussions and attention, as we’ve had today, is not a comfortable place to be; and I know, this is not where you want to be today. Let’s work together to bring stability to Mali and to its people, and to bring Mali back into the community of nations where Mali belongs.
