While Minusma has officially ended its presence in Mali for more than a month and a half, former Minusma employees are still waiting to receive compensation resulting from the loss of their jobs.
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For ten years, the Minusma employed thousands of Malians. There were 859 of them, according to official figures from June 2023, who were employees of the UN agency when the Malian transitional authorities demanded the departure of the mission, completed six months later.
High graduates in the Bamako offices, drivers, interpreters or logisticians in the field, from Mopti to Kidal, they have all lost their jobs. This is particularly the case for Moussa*. Hired in 2013 by Minusma in the north of Mali, his contract ended on December 31. “ Until December 31, I received my salaries regularly, without interruption », he testifies.
“ Today, what remains to be paid is firstly the severance pay, calculated on seniority and the number of days of leave not taken. There is also the pension, contributions that the employer and employee paid each month to the contribution fund to the mission’s retirement fund. The period normally was 45 days after termination of the contract but some received this compensation, others did not. We do not understand these delays and there is no official communication “, he explains, worried because he “ needs this money » to support his family and pay his rent but also “ food, medicine and also for other people who are dependent on me “.
Minusma, an economic environment
Requested by RFI, the United Nations has not provided explanations, at this stage, for these payment delays. For ten years, now ex-Minusma employees have benefited from salaries higher than the national average. Today, like Moussa, many are unable to find work. Some also express fears for their security, particularly in areas where jihadist groups have strengthened their presence.
The Malian transitional authorities are committed to mitigating the security, social and economic consequences of the departure of Minusma which, in addition to its direct staff and its subcontractors, generated an economic environment that is today difficult to compensate for, especially in the areas most plagued by insecurity.
Quarrel with Bamako
As a reminder, Bamako had requested the departure of Minusma in June 2023, believing that the UN peacekeeping mission did not contribute sufficiently to securing the country against terrorist groups. The Malian transitional authorities were also irritated by reports from the human rights section of Minusma on allegations of abuses targeting the Malian army and its ” partners “.
On several occasions, the transitional authorities had denounced what they considered to be a “ political exploitation of the question of human rights “. This was particularly the case when the UN report was released on the military operation carried out in the village of Moura in March 2022. The investigation published by the United Nations accused the Malian army and its Russian auxiliaries of having summarily executed more than of 500 people, in total contradiction with the official version: 203 dead, all jihadists, according to the Malian army’s toll.
*Identities have been changed