Mali has been asking for a meeting of the UN Security Council for ten days. On August 15, Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop wrote a letter to the Security Council accusing the French Barkhane force of having repeatedly violated Mali’s airspace. About fifty illegal incursions since last January, according to Bamako, which mainly accuses Paris of supporting jihadist groups.
According to the Malian authorities, the French army supplies weapons and intelligence to terrorist groups. In short: to the local branches of al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group. A very serious charge. The Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs assures in his letter that he has evidence, but without disclosing it, and denounces a “ damage to stability and security ” from the country. Ten days later, the meeting that Mali is requesting from the Security Council has still not been convened. Is she likely to stand?
To date, no country has brought the Malian request before the Security Council. However, since Mali is not itself a member of the Council, it is a condition sine qua non for his request to be taken into account. Two information communicated by the United Nations headquarters in New York.
Russia, a permanent member of the Council, in the same way as France, has rightly become Mali’s first partner in the fight against terrorism. At the start of the week, Moscow did request an emergency meeting of the Security Council, but on the subject of Ukraine. Is Mali counting on Russia to relay its request? Have arrangements been made for this? Reached by RFI, the Malian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not provide these details.
► To read also: Why does Mali accuse France of supporting jihadists?
If the Malian request ends up being relayed, according to the concordant explanations of a former diplomat posted to the UN and a lawyer specializing in international organizations, Mali’s grievances against France could either be the subject of a emergency meeting, or be placed on the agenda of a forthcoming meeting of the Security Council, which are almost daily.
A member country could always express its opposition at the time of the adoption of this agenda, but there would then be a vote, for which the right of veto of the permanent members would not apply. Clearly, if France tried to prevent a debate on the subject – a strategy that is not self-evident as it would look like a confession – it would have almost no chance of succeeding. ” France can block a resolution, but not a discussion “Summarizes one of our sources. Mali and Russia therefore know what they have to do if they want to reveal to the Security Council, and the whole world, the evidence of France’s alleged support for jihadist groups.