On Thursday, August 17, 2023, MINUSMA announced the withdrawal of United States army soldiers from the Goundam camp located in the Tombouctou region of Mali.
The United Nations Organization informed about the withdrawal of its blue army soldiers from a third camp in Mali, in accordance with its plan to fully exit the Sahel country by December 31, 2023. “The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) confirms that a convoy carrying peacekeepers and equipment from its camp in the city of Goundam, in the Tombouctou region, as part of the withdrawal process, arrived without incident in the city of Tombouctou on Wednesday,” according to a UN statement.
Furthermore, MINUSMA is following the decision of the UN Security Council from late June to immediately terminate the mission that has been active in the country since 2013. This mission was requested by the junta that seized power by force in 2020.
The statement indicates that this withdrawal, the third since the beginning of August, was a “complex operation (that) involved the departure of Ivorian soldiers, UN police, and soldiers from Bangladesh.” Additionally, the UN stated that peacekeepers were contributing to the protection of the local population despite frequent attacks using improvised explosive devices in an area characterized by high levels of insecurity and a significant presence of extremist groups.
