Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop requested the United Nations send a rapid intervention force in order to fight Islamist militants in the North of the country.
The request comes following a wave of attacks on UN peacekeepers in the country, with a Senegalese soldier killed on Tuesday. Nine peacekeepers from Niger were reportedly killed by militants earlier this week. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said he was “outraged” by the attack.
Diop, who was addressing the UN Security Council via a video link, called for “urgent measures” to bolster the nearly 10,000 UN peacekeepers already in Mali. He warned that Northern Mali was at “risk of becoming the destination of hordes of terrorists” and said,
The request comes following a wave of attacks on UN peacekeepers in the country, with a Senegalese soldier killed on Tuesday. Nine peacekeepers from Niger were reportedly killed by militants earlier this week. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said he was “outraged” by the attack.
Diop, who was addressing the UN Security Council via a video link, called for “urgent measures” to bolster the nearly 10,000 UN peacekeepers already in Mali. He warned that Northern Mali was at “risk of becoming the destination of hordes of terrorists” and said,
“Perhaps the council should consider setting up a rapid intervention force that would be able to fight the terrorist elements.”According to UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, 31 peacekeepers have been killed since the UN mission was established in July 2013, with a further 91 injured.