UN Security Council will hold a briefing and consultations on Mali.

Special Representative and head of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) El-Ghassim Wane is expected to brief.

This is a significant briefing as a growing number of key nations have withdrawn their peacekeepers from the country.

The delicate situation and rising violence have the UN Secretary-General considering giving the UNSC the option of shutting down the peacekeeping operation altogether.

MINUSMA continues to be the deadliest UN peacekeeping mission. 5 members died in an attack last week.

The force reported that tensions are rising between armed groups who had signed previous peace agreements. Over 1,200
civilians were reported killed in 2022, double the number from 2021, according to the mission.

Mali’s junta government has increasingly relied on Russian forces, in lieu of now-departed French forces and the MINUSMA force, for security.

Aljazeera.