File image of the attack on a UN convoy in Mali. /
The trucks were the target of fire with rocket launchers and assault rifles, in what is the fifth incident in the last seven days.
At least one blue helmet was killed and three others were injured in an attack perpetrated on Wednesday against a logistics convoy of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), in the surroundings of the city of Kidal (north).
The attack, carried out with light weapons and rocket launchers, is the fifth such incident in the Kidal region in the last week. At the moment no group has claimed responsibility for the event.
“I firmly condemn this attack, which is a desperate part of the terrorist groups to try to damage the search for peace in Mali and the application of the mandate of the MINUSMA,” said the special representative of the UN Secretary General and head of the mission. , El Ghassim Wane.
“Our determination to accompany the Malian people and government in their search for peace and security remains unshaken. Nothing will undermine it », she added, according to a statement published by Minusma on its website.
For his part, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, condemned the attack and has conveyed his “deep condolences” to the relatives of the victim, a Jordanian national, as well as to the authorities and the population of this country. He also recalled that the attacks against ‘blue helmets’ “may constitute war crimes under international law” and called on the Malian authorities “to spare no effort in identifying those responsible for the attack so that they can be quickly brought before Justice”. Finally, Guterres highlighted the determination of the United Nations to “support the people of Mali in their search for peace and security.”
The event took place less than a week after at least nine MINUSMA ‘blue helmets’ were injured by the explosion of a bomb detonated by a military vehicle southwest of Aguelhok, in Kidal province. In recent years, Mali has been registering a growing number of jihadist attacks carried out by both the Al Qaeda branch in the region and the Islamic State branch, which has also increased inter-community violence and caused the displacement of tens of thousands of people.
