Two Egyptian UN peacekeepers killed in Mali blast

Two UN peacekeepers were killed on Friday when their armoured personnel carrier hit an improvised explosive device in central Mali in the sixth incident in less than two weeks targeting the UN mission in the West African nation that has faced a decade-long Islamic insurgency.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the device that killed the Egyptian peacekeepers and wounded one other was planted on a road outside the town of Douentza in the Mopti region.

Their APC was escorting a civilian convoy and was on its way from Douentza to Timbuktu when it hit the device, he said.

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"The intent is to disrupt the lives of the Malian people, to disrupt transport, to disrupt security,” Dujarric said. "These roads are used by civilians, civilian trucks, civilian buses, but also by the security forces, whether it’s the Malian army or UN peacekeepers … (who) have been victims over and over again of improvised explosive devices.”

It was the sixth incident in which a UN peacekeeping mission convoy was hit since May 22 and the second fatal attack on a convoy this week, the UN spokesman said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a meeting. File photo

A UN peacekeeping convoy was attacked by suspected terrorists in the northern Kidal region on Wednesday and a Jordanian peacekeeper was killed and three other Jordanians were wounded. Dujarric said the supply convoy came under sustained fire for about an hour from attackers who used small arms and rocket launchers.

Mali has been in turmoil since a 2012 uprising prompted mutinous soldiers to overthrow the president. The power vacuum that resulted ultimately led to an Islamic insurgency and a French-led war that ousted the jihadists from power in 2013. But insurgents remain active and extremist groups affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Daesh group have moved from the arid north to more populated central Mali since 2015, stoking animosity and violence between ethnic groups in the region.

Mali’s current ruling junta seized power in August 2020, and in April the junta leaders said a transition to civilian, democratic rule would take at least two years.

The UN Security Council and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned Friday’s attack in separate statements and called on Mali’s transitional government to swiftly identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice. They both underlined that attacks on peacekeepers may constitute war crimes.

The secretary-general "pays tribute to the determination and the courage of peacekeepers, who continue to implement their mandates in extremely challenging circumstances in support of the people of Mali,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Associated Press