Attack on a United Nations camp in Mali

Bamako – AFP

The UN embassy (MINUSMA) camp in Maneka, in northern Mali, was targeted by mortar shells on Sunday afternoon, but no casualties were reported, the UN mission said.

An official on duty said, “This Sunday, the Minusma camp in Maneka was targeted by four mortar shells.” He confirmed no casualties or damage were reported, but did not say who was behind the shooting.

The attack comes just hours after a French soldier was killed in a mortar attack on Saturday, targeting the Gao camp in the north of the country, amid tensions between Paris and Bamako. Coastal wars since 2013, and the first in 2022. In 2021 three soldiers were killed in the French wars stopped in Mali, and a fourth soldier was killed in an accident. Other French soldiers were “slightly wounded” as a result of the attack. The Armed Forces’ civil servants said in a statement that “their situation is not alarming.” Last June, France began re-establishing its forces in Mali, beginning to reduce its “Barclays” force, which would be reduced from about 5,000 troops. 3,500 in the summer of 2021 and 4,000 in the summer of 2022 in the Sahel area.

Mali has been mired in a security and political crisis since the eruption of separatist insurgency in 2012, which has since spread to neighboring countries.

Mali has been facing tough sanctions since the middle of this month imposed by the economic community of West African countries against the plan of the military junta, which has been in power for years, and for failing to keep its promise to hold elections. Citizens must return to power.