BAMAKO, Feb 6, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Mali's ruling junta said Sunday that it was 
expelling the head of the human rights division of MINUSMA, the United 
Nations mission there, giving him 48 hours to leave the country.

The decision comes after a Malian rights activist last month denounced the 
security situation in the country in a speech to a UN gathering, and accused 
the regime's new Russian military partners of serious rights violations.

The foreign ministry had declared Guillaume Ngefa Atonodok Andali, head of 
MINUSMA's human rights section, persona non grata, said a statement issued by 
government spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga.

"This measure comes after the destabilising and subversive actions of 
Monsieur Andali," added the statement, which was also read out on national 
television news.

Andali had taken it upon himself to decide who were the representatives of 
civil society, ignoring the authorities and national institutions, the 
statement added.

"Andali's bias was even more evident during the last review of the United 
Nations Security Council on Mali", the statement added.

On January 27, rights activist Aminata Cheick Dicko criticised the regime at 
a special UN Security Council briefing on Mali.

Then on January 31, UN rights experts in Geneva called for an independent 
probe into abuses and possible war crimes in Mali carried out by government 
forces and Russia's Wagner group, which has been operating alongside them.

- Growing tension -

MINUSMA was set up in 2013 to try to stabilise Mali in the face of the 
growing threat from jihadist fighters.

Its mission also included the protection of civilians, contributing to peace 
efforts and defending human rights.

Although its mandate was renewed in 2019, the deteriorating security 
situation has raised questions in Mali and abroad about the continuing 
usefulness of the UN mission.

Some of the countries that once contributed to it have either already pulled 
out or are planning to. They include France and Ivory Coast, both of which 
have had major diplomatic breaks with Mali's military regime.

Other countries including Egypt, Germany and Sweden have either pulled out of 
the mission or announced that they are going to do so.

Germany's defence ministry said last Monday its soldiers would be pulling out 
by May 2024 because it made no sense to stay on when the troops could not 
fulfill their mission.

Tensions between the Malian authorities and the UN mission have increased 
with the arrival of the military junta, which seized power two years ago, 
promising to tackle the jihadist threat.

But the security situation has continued to deteriorate in the west African 
country.

The military regime has repeatedly blocked MINUSMA's attempts to investigate 
reports of human rights abuses carried out by the armed forces.