BAMAKO, Mali
Forty-two troops from the UN’s Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) have been killed – and at least 126 injured – since the mission was first deployed in 2013, according to a Friday statement issued by the UN.
The statement was released following an armed ambush on a MINUSMA convoy on northeastern Mali’s Anefis-Gao Road in which two UN peacekeepers were injured.
MINUSMA was established by the UN Security Council in April 2013 with the stated aim of “supporting the country’s political process and carrying out several security-related tasks”.
Tensions erupted in Mali in 2012 following a failed coup attempt and a Tuareg rebellion that allowed Al-Qaeda-linked militants to take over the northern half of the West African country.
In early 2013, former colonial power France sent troops to Mali and – with the help of Chadian and other African forces – flushed the militants from the country's main northern cities.
Nevertheless, militant attacks – on both Malian government troops and MINUSMA peacekeepers – remain frequent occurrences.
