Egypt will "temporarily suspend" its participation in United
Nations peacekeeping operations in Mali after seven of its troops died in
attacks this year, the
UN mission MINUSMA said on Friday.
اضافة اعلان
Egypt signalled its concerns in New York earlier this week, the mission said
in a statement.
"We have been informed that, in consequence, the Egyptian contingent
would temporarily suspend its activities in MINUSMA from August 15," said
the statement, without detailing how long the suspension would last.
MINUSMA -- the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation
Mission in Mali -- was launched in 2013 to help one of the world's poorest
countries cope with a bloody jihadist campaign.
It is one of the UN's biggest peacekeeping operations, with 17,609 troops,
police, civilians and volunteers deployed as of April, according to the
mission's website.
It is also one of the most dangerous UN missions, with 275 fatalities from
attacks, accidents or other causes, according to the website.
Of these, 177 deaths have come from hostile acts, 10 of them since
January.
The latest attack against the Egyptian contingent was on July 5, when two
peacekeepers were killed and five seriously hurt near Gao, in northern Mali.
A UN official in Bamako said Egypt contributed 1,035 out of the total 12,261
UN peacekeeping troops in Mali.
"It is one of the mission's biggest contingents," he said.
The UN Security Council renewed MINUSMA's mandate for one year on June 29,
although Mali's ruling military junta opposed requests to allow freedom of
movement for rights' investigators with the mission.
Friday's announcement came a day after Mali announced that it was suspending
all rotations by MINUSMA troops and police for reasons of "national
security".
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