The United Nations sanctions against Mali will be lifted on Thursday after Russia rejected a renewal of the regime, which targeted anybody violating or blocking the 2015 peace settlement, delaying aid delivery, committing human rights violations, or recruiting child soldiers.
Violence against women and other “grave human rights abuses” are being used by Mali’s military and its foreign security partners, thought to include Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, to spread terror, according to a report presented to the Security Council by independent U.N. sanctions monitors this month.
France and the UAE introduced a resolution to extend sanctions and the independent monitoring mechanism for a year. Thirteen Security Council members supported the resolution, while China abstained. Russia vetoed the extension, and proposed extending UN sanctions for one year but ending independent monitoring immediately. Only Russia voted for this idea, while Japan voted against it and the rest abstained.
The US accused Wagner, a private military firm with 1,000 fighters in Mali, of encouraging the junta to demand for the departure of the UN peacekeeping mission that has been in the region for a decade. Thursday marks the end of the UN sanctions regime and independent monitoring. After the recent votes, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said further discussions will not take place.
The 2017 Mali sanctions regime allowed the Council to limit travel and freeze assets. Eight people are under UN sanctions. Independent monitors reported implementation status and proposed new designations to the council biannually.
