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December 9,2021

Andrew Campbell 

Seven UN peacekeepers from Togo were killed and three others were seriously injured when their vehicle collided with an improvised explosive device in the Bandiagara region of central Mali on December 8 morning.

The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, strongly condemns an improvised explosive device attack on a logistics convoy of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) in the region of Bandiagara, in central Mali, during which seven Togolese peacekeepers were killed and three were seriously injured. Furthermore, the Secretary-General expresses his heartfelt condolences to the victims’ families, as well as the Togo government and people.

Attacks have been carried out by militants affiliated with Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group, but so-called self-defense forces have also resulted in many civilian casualties. Mali is the epicenter of a jihadist insurgency that began in the country's north in 2012 and spread to neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso three years later. Thousands of people have died in the region, and approximately two million have been displaced.

The MINUSMA peace operation in Mali was established in 2013 and began operations in the troubled Sahel state. There are 16,500 personnel, including 10,700 troops. According to the UN, the mission has had the most fatalities of any of its peacekeeping operations around the world, with hostile acts resulting in 146 deaths as of October 31.