Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 4th June. According to the UN Mission in Mali, two Egyptian peacekeepers serving with the MINUSMA were killed on Friday, the second fatal attack this week on a peacekeeping convoy.
UN mission reported that the blue helmets were killed, and another injured, when their armoured Personnel Carrier hit an improvised explosive device outside the town of Douentza, located in the Mopti region in central Mali.
UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric on Friday in New York said the incident also marked the sixth time a Mission convoy has been hit since 22 May.
“The Secretary-General condemns this new attack on our peacekeepers, who, as you know, are just fulfilling the mandate in Mali given to them by the Security Council in extremely challenging conditions,” he told journalists in New York.
Guterres also wished a prompt recovery to the injured peacekeepers, Spokesman said.
Mr. Dujarric said in a statement issued later on Friday that the Secretary-General recalled that attacks targeting United Nations peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law. The UN chief also called on the transitional authorities in Mali to “spare no effort in identifying the perpetrators of this attack, so that they can be brought to justice swiftly.”
El-Ghassim Wane, head of MINUSMA also condemned the attack “this new attack by extremist elements,” he tweeted.
He wrote that this has been “a hard, very hard week for us.”
MINUSMA logistics convoy in Kidal, northern Mali, came under direct fire from suspected members of a terrorist group for roughly an hour.
Four peacekeepers from Jordan were injured, one of whom died from his wounds after being evacuated.
Head of UN Peacekeeping, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, also tweeted his condemnation for what he called “yet again another cowardly attack against our peacekeepers”.
Mr. Lacroix said “these crimes are a blatant violation of international law,” adding that they “shall not go unpunished.”
The members of the UN Security Council also deplored the attack and called on the transitional Government of Mali to swiftly investigate the attack against peacekeepers and bring the perpetrators to justice, and keep the relevant troop-contributing country informed of the progress.
Council members underlined that attacks targeting peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law, in a press statement issued in New York on Friday.
They also stressed that involvement in planning, directing, sponsoring or conducting attacks against MINUSMA peacekeepers constitutes a basis for sanctions designations pursuant to Security Council resolutions.
Mali is the most dangerous places to serve as a peacekeeper.
The Mission supports political processes and carries out numerous tasks related to security and protection of civilians.
UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that despite the challenging circumstances, MINUSMA personnel continue their mandated work.
He reported that the Mission helped to rehabilitate two bridges in the Mopti region which had been destroyed in earlier attacks.
The development will bring relief to the population, and will also facilitate the resumption of travel, commerce and other economic activity, including between Mopti city and the town of Bandiagara, some 65 kilometres to the southeast.
Peacekeepers have assisted people in two towns in the Kidal and Gao regions, as part of their ongoing support to communities in northern Mali.
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