Citing the threat to regional peace from terrorists and Islamic militants in rebel-held northern Mali, the UN Security Council held out the possibility of endorsing, within the next 45 days, an international military force to restore the unity of the West African country.
In a unanimously adopted resolution on 12 October 2012, the 15-member body called on Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “to provide, at once, military and security planners to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union (AU) and other partners to help frame a response to a request by Mali’s transitional authorities for such a force, and to report back within 45 days,” the UN reported.
International Military Force
Upon receipt of the report, and acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the Council said it was ready “to respond to the request of the Transitional authorities of Mali regarding an international military force assisting the Malian Armed Forces in recovering the occupied regions in the north of Mali.”
Chapter VII of the Charter allows the Council to use force in the face of a threat to peace or aggression, taking “such action by air, sea, or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security,” including blockades and other operations by the forces of Member States.
In August, the Council urged ECOWAS, in cooperation with the transitional authorities, the AU Commission and regional countries, to prepare detailed proposals for a stabilization force to restore the territorial integrity of the country.
Fighting between Malian Government forces and Tuareg rebels broke out in the country’s north in January. The instability and insecurity resulting from the renewed clashes, as well as the proliferation of armed groups in the region, drought and political instability in the wake of a military coup d’état in March, have driven 500,000 Malians from their homes, 270,000 of them to neighbouring countries.
In addition, Islamist militants currently control the country’s north and have imposed strict Sharia law, including amputation of limbs as punishment.
Rebels to “Cut Off All Ties to Terrorist Organizations”
The Council called on Malian rebel groups to cut off all ties to terrorist organizations, notably Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and affiliated groups, and expressed its readiness to adopt targeted sanctions against those groups which do not do so.
It also urged the Transitional authorities, rebels and other legitimate representatives of the local population in the northern Mali to engage, as soon as possible, in credible negotiations to seek a sustainable political solution in conformity with the country’s unity, and demanded that all groups in the north cease all human rights violations such as attacks against civilians, sexual violence, recruitments of child soldiers and forced displacements.
“Grave Concern”
Council resolution reiterated “grave concern” at the continuing deterioration of the security and humanitarian situation in the north of Mali, the increasing entrenchment of terrorist elements including AQIM, affiliated groups and other extremist groups, and its consequences for the countries of the Sahel and beyond.
In addition, it strongly condemned the abuses of human rights committed “by armed rebels, terrorist and other extremist groups, including violence against its civilians, notably women and children, killings, hostage-taking, pillaging, theft, destruction of cultural and religious sites and recruitment of child soldiers,” and stressed that some of these acts might amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Terrorists Using Drug Money
On 10 October 2012, a top United Nations human rights official said that radical Islamists who seized northern Mali earlier this year are maintaining their control through fear and drug money, imposing an extremist version of Muslim Sharia law and restrictions that target women in particular.
Among a litany of human rights abuses committed by the Islamists, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Šimonovic cited “very drastic punishments,” the recruitment of child soldiers, and enforced marriages that are a smokescreen for enforced prostitution, terming the situation as “very bad.”
“They are buying loyalty. They have tremendous resources to buy loyalty because they are now having kickbacks from narco-traffickers in the region,” he told a news conference at UN Headquarters in New York following a visit to the West African country, where a third of the 1.5 million population of the north, an area the size of France, has been driven from their homes, the UN reported.
Transit Corridor for Drugs to Europe
“Mali is a transit corridor for cocaine and other drugs from South America to Europe.”
“There is also substantial ransom money that is being controlled by them,” Šimonovic said, adding: “The overwhelming majority of people in the north are not supportive of the rebels and dislike what is happening.”
He noted that there had been three public executions, eight cases of amputations, a number of public floggings and other inhuman and degrading punishments. “The number is small but the threat is there, it’s real and people live with it and they are afraid of those lists,” he added, referring to lists that the Islamist groups are reported to be compiling of women who have had children out of wedlock, or who were unmarried and pregnant.
“The number of enforced marriages is increasing, the price to buy a wife is less than $1,000,” he noted. “After getting out of their families, the women, once forcefully married, quite often are by their so-called husbands married to other men after a very short while, which is in fact then a smokescreen for enforced prostitution and rapes that are taking place.”
Children Soldiers
Šimonovic stressed that children are particularly vulnerable to attempts to enlist them as child soldiers, often to plant improvised explosive devices, with their families being given $600 for enlistment, and then $400 a month in a country where over half the population lives on $1.25 a day. Many teachers have also fled, fearing the imposition of Sharia, so the children are missing out on education, too.
“Everybody is banned from listening to music, from smoking, women have to be covered, but the women are also targeted in the sense of restricting their ability to work,” he said. “Children can’t play soccer.”
Refugees, Displaced
Some 100,000 Malian refugees have already fled to Mauritania, 100,000 to Burkina Faso, 30,000 in Algeria and about 40,000 in Niger. Another 230,000 are estimated to be internally displaced.
Among the main Islamist groups who have seized control of the north, Šimonovic noted that Ansar Dine was composed mainly of Malians while the leadership of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA) is foreign, mostly from Arab countries and is closely related to Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
In August, the Security Council urged the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) – working closely with the Malian Transitional authorities in Bamako, the capital, the African Union Commission and regional countries – to prepare detailed proposals for a stabilization force to restore Mali’s territorial integrity.
