An artisanal bomb exploded Thursday June 2 near Waya, a second the next day during the passage of a military convoy near Douentza. Attacks are alarmingly multiply in the country in the grip of civil war.
Le Monde with AFP
Six Malian civilians and two Egyptian peacekeepers of the UN mission in Mali (Minusma) were killed Thursday June 2 and Friday June 3 in the explosion of two distinct improvised vehicles in the center of the country, A- we learned from local and UN sources.
A cart back from the market jumped on a mine near Waya on Thursday, said a military official and two local councilors on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity for their security given the strong jihadist presence in the sector . Five civilians died on Thursday, and a sixth succumbed to his injuries on Friday.
Friday, two minusma soldiers were killed and a third injured by the explosion of another craft machine near Douentza, in the center of the country, on the axis leading to Timbuktu, to the north, said the Mission spokesperson Olivier Salgado on social networks. The soldiers were part of the Egyptian contingent of MINUSMA.
These are the second and third peacekeepers killed in three days. A Jordanian soldier succumbed to a light weapon attack and rocket launchers against the convoy in which he was in Kidal on Wednesday, to the north.
the deadliest UN mission in the world
With more than 12,000 soldiers deployed in this country plunged into turmoil since the trigger of jihadist and independence insurrections in 2012, MINUSMA is the most deadly UN mission in the world. Since its creation in 2013, 174 of his peacekeepers have died in hostile acts.
The improvised explosive devices (EEI), which can jump in contact with a wheel or be activated remotely, are the favorite weapon of jihadists against minusma and Malian forces. They also regularly kill many civilians. Seven Togolese peacekeepers were thus killed by the explosion of such a machine in December 2021 in a logistics convoy between Douentza and Sévaré.
The peacekeepers killed on Friday were in an escort of a dozen UN vehicles who accompanied a convoy of civil trucks carrying fuel, said Salgado. And a mine exploded at the passage of the convoy. “A hard week, very hard for us. We will never say enough the difficulty of our task and the extreme dedication of our peacekeepers,” tweeted the chief of Minusma El-Ghassim Wane.
Intensification of violence in Mali
This is the sixth attack on a UN convoy since May 22, said in New York Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for secretary general Antonio Guterres, who “condemns this new attack,” he says. “Despite these difficult circumstances (…) Our colleagues continue their work in accordance with their mandate” issued by the Security Council, he declared, citing the participation of MINUSMA in the recent restoration of two bridges destroyed by Attacks in the same region.
Center of Mali is one of the main homes of violence that bloody the Sahel. Parties of the North, these violence extended to the center as well as in Burkina Faso and Neighboring Niger. They left thousands of civilian people and combatants and hundreds of thousands of displaced.
Two reports made public this week, one of the UN Secretary General, the other of the Division of Human Rights of Minusma, are alarmed by an intensification of violence in the center and north.