The United Nations (UN) has paid tribute to a peacekeeper who died after his convoy hit an improvised explosive device in Tessalit, Mali.
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), El-Ghassim Wane, offered his deepest condolences to the government of the deceased, his family and comrades-in-arms.
‘This incident is a sad reminder of the permanent danger that hangs over our peacekeepers and of the sacrifices made for peace in Mali’, he said in a statement.
The UN mission has deployed more than 13,000 soldiers to contain violence by armed groups in the north and the centre of the West African country.
Mali has been mired in crisis since 2012, when a northern separatist rebellion led by the minority ethnic Tuareg community prompted a military coup.
An insurgency linked to al-Qaeda and Daesh/ISIS, which has killed thousands of civilians and troops, has also spread to neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso.
The UN mission in Mali has recorded about 255 deaths since 2013, making it one of the deadliest UN peacekeeping missions.
Four peacekeepers from Ivory Coast were killed and five injured in a January attack in the Timbuktu region. Two days later, one Egyptian peacekeeper was killed and another seriously injured near Tessalit in Kidal region.
On 10 February, assailants reportedly drove an explosives-laden vehicle into a MINUSMA base near Douentza and killed one peacekeeper from Togo, injuring 27 others.
In March, at least 33 Malian soldiers were killed and 14 others wounded in an attack on their convoy near the town of Tessit.
Source: MINUSMA
Photo source: United Nations
