Malian Foreign Affairs Minister Abdoulaye Diop on Friday called for the immediate withdrawal of the United Nations peacekeeping mission from his country.
Diop told the U.N. Security Council Mali wanted the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, or MINUSMA, the U.N. force in Mali, removed “without delay.”
"Minusma seems to have become part of the problem by fueling community tensions exacerbated by extremely serious allegations which are highly detrimental to peace, reconciliation and national cohesion in Mali," said the minister.
“This situation is begetting mistrust among the Malian population and also causing a crisis of confidence between Malian authorities and MINUSMA," Diop told the council.
The West African country has faced an insurgency since 2012. The U.N. peacekeeping mission was deployed in 2013 but the instability continues.
Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
