The UN last week officially took over command of the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (Minusma) in the quest to pacify the West African country that has been in a political turmoil since early last year.
Rwandan peacekeepers return from a mission in the past. The country is the world’s sixth largest troops contributing country, and the professionalism of the RDF is appreciated by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.The New Times/ File
Mali has over the past few months emerged as the newest front in a global battle against Islamic radicals.
Former colonial power France deployed some 4,000 troops, alongside a regional African force, in a nine-week operation that drove Islamists into the Adrar des Ifoghas Mountains, a massif in Mali’s Kidal region that covers about 250,000 square kilometres.
Minusma will be 12,000-strong at full deployment, making it the third largest UN mission, and will be commanded by Rwanda’s Maj. Gen Jean Bosco Kazura, who was last month appointed by the UN Secretary General as Force Commander.
The mission will undoubtedly play a key role in presidential polls scheduled for July 28.
What is more, if Kigali agrees, Rwandan peacekeepers may also be deployed in the near future.
In a news conference last month, President Paul Kagame acknowledged that “There is a possibility of sending troops to Mali.” A request had already been made, he said.
Earlier, on January 28, while speaking at an AU Summit during the debate on Mali, President Kagame said: “Africa cannot, and should not, fold its arms when terrorist and criminal groups are occupying over half the territory of a Member State, carrying out the most atrocious crimes against innocent civilians and destroying monuments that are of great significance to Africa’s heritage and civilization.”
Olivier Nduhungirehe, Rwanda’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, says General Kazura was appointed Force Commander of Minusma, “first, because of his personal competence and experience.”
The second reason, Nduhungirehe says, is “because of the role Rwanda has played in peacekeeping operations for the last nine years, particularly in Darfur.”
The New Times
