UK Announces Withdrawal From Mali

The British government has announced the early withdrawal of its military contingent currently deployed in Mali as part of the UN mission to the country.

The withdrawal comes following the ruling junta’s use of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner.

According to the Ministry of Defence, the commitment was supposed to last three years but was faced with the rising instability in the country.

Report says the troops will leave the country in the next six months.

Meanwhile, France the main country intervening militarily in Mali, notably through the Barkhane force, alongside its European partners announced in February their withdrawal from the country.

While the last French soldiers left Mali this summer, after nearly a decade.

Almost 300 British soldiers have been in Mali since the end of 2020, as part of the deployment of the UN Peacekeeping Mission in the country launched in 2013, MINUSMA, aimed in particular at stabilising the security situation in a country plagued by jihadist attacks.

AFRICANEWS/CO