Mali is still in crisis. The Northern territories are far
from being secured and the political situation in the capital and throughout
the country is very unstable. The Dialogue
and Reconciliation Commission formally adopted on 6 March 2013 is yet to start
working. Many of its Commissioners have not yet been appointed. The UN
peace-keeping operation is at the design stage. The Security Council resolution
that will approve the mission, under the very strange name of United Nations
Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) – multidimensional
needs not to be in the name, if it is an integrated mission – has been drafted
but has not yet been finalised. In any case, if it were approved in the next
weeks it will take several months to have the peacekeeping forces fully
operational. On the other hand, the EU presence that is supposed to train the
new Malian military and security personnel is just beginning its deployment.
In view of all this, the elections scheduled for July 2013 –
presidential elections on 7 July 2013 and legislative elections on 21 July 2013
– seem pretty premature. I do not see the necessary minimum conditions being in
place by July for peaceful and credible elections to take place. Therefore, I
can’t understand the reasoning of the key Northern partners of Mali that
continue to insist that this calendar should be abided by.
4 comments:
Thanks for your insights. I agree with you that holding elections in July seems premature. In an integrated mission such as MINUSMA, how large will its Human Rights Component be? The draft resolution creating MINUSMA mentions inter alia "deployment of human rights observers all throughout the country." In your estimate, how many personnel will focus on the human rights part of the mandate? Thank you.
Thanks for the comment.
On the Human Rights issue, again, the ambition seems too vast. To achieve this part of the mandate, the HR section will have to combine about a dozen HR Officers with a large number of HR UN Volunteers, at least twenty of them. This is of course a rough estimate. Regards, VA
Thank you, sir, for your reply. Looking forward to reading more of your insights re peacekeeping issues. Regards, Noel
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