African Union Appeals For U.N. Funding For Mali Force
https://nigeriaafrica1.blogspot.com/2012/12/african-union-appeals-for-un-funding.html
The African Union appealed on Wednesday for U.N. funding for a military operation to combat Islamist extremists in northern Mali after U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon cautiously recommended the Security Council approve the force without U.N. financing.
Mali descended into chaos in March when soldiers toppled the president, leaving a power vacuum that enabled Tuareg rebels to seize two-thirds of the country. But Islamist extremists, some allied with al Qaeda, have hijacked the revolt.
The AU observer to the United Nations, Antonio Tete, told the 15-member Security Council that the deployment and operations of an African force of 3,300 troops would need "a U.N. support package funded through assessed contributions to ensure sustained and predictable support to the mission."
"Experience in the Darfur region of Sudan, with AMIS, and, currently, in Somalia, with AMISOM, has clearly shown the limitations of, and constraints linked to, support provided on a voluntary basis," Tete said.
AMIS was the African Union's force in Sudan before it became a joint U.N.-AU force, which was renamed UNAMID. In Somalia, an AU peacekeeping force is known as AMISOM.
Diplomats said the African Union and France - the most vocal Western backer of a plan for African troops to retake northern Mali - were angry that Ban had not offered U.N. funding. Seven French nationals are being held hostage in the desert region.
The fall of Mali's north to the Islamists, including AQIM, al Qaeda's North African wing, has carved out a safe haven for militants and international organized crime, U.N. officials say, stirring fears of attacks in West Africa and in Europe.
"The terrorists have stepped up their activities and are seeking reinforcements to carry out a jihad from Mali," Mali's minister for Malians abroad and African integration, Traore Rokiatou Guikine, told the Security Council. "Mali is on the way to becoming a breeding ground for terrorism."
Highlighting that threat, the U.N. Security Council's al Qaeda sanctions committee added the Movement for Unification and Jihad in West Africa, or MUJAO, to its al Qaeda blacklist on Wednesday, the committee announced on its website.
It said that MUJAO, which is active in northern Mali, was linked to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. MUJAO is known to be holding a number of foreigners hostage.
French U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud said he was expecting a report from the United Nations on what support it could provide for a Mali mission. "There is no reason why we shouldn't have logistical support provided by the U.N.," Araud said, adding any assistance would have to be endorsed by the council.
The AU observer to the United Nations, Antonio Tete, told the 15-member Security Council that the deployment and operations of an African force of 3,300 troops would need "a U.N. support package funded through assessed contributions to ensure sustained and predictable support to the mission."
"Experience in the Darfur region of Sudan, with AMIS, and, currently, in Somalia, with AMISOM, has clearly shown the limitations of, and constraints linked to, support provided on a voluntary basis," Tete said.
AMIS was the African Union's force in Sudan before it became a joint U.N.-AU force, which was renamed UNAMID. In Somalia, an AU peacekeeping force is known as AMISOM.
Diplomats said the African Union and France - the most vocal Western backer of a plan for African troops to retake northern Mali - were angry that Ban had not offered U.N. funding. Seven French nationals are being held hostage in the desert region.
The fall of Mali's north to the Islamists, including AQIM, al Qaeda's North African wing, has carved out a safe haven for militants and international organized crime, U.N. officials say, stirring fears of attacks in West Africa and in Europe.
"The terrorists have stepped up their activities and are seeking reinforcements to carry out a jihad from Mali," Mali's minister for Malians abroad and African integration, Traore Rokiatou Guikine, told the Security Council. "Mali is on the way to becoming a breeding ground for terrorism."
Highlighting that threat, the U.N. Security Council's al Qaeda sanctions committee added the Movement for Unification and Jihad in West Africa, or MUJAO, to its al Qaeda blacklist on Wednesday, the committee announced on its website.
It said that MUJAO, which is active in northern Mali, was linked to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. MUJAO is known to be holding a number of foreigners hostage.
French U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud said he was expecting a report from the United Nations on what support it could provide for a Mali mission. "There is no reason why we shouldn't have logistical support provided by the U.N.," Araud said, adding any assistance would have to be endorsed by the council.
