<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">Mali's ruling junta said Sunday that it was expelling the head of the human rights division of MINUSMA, the United Nations mission there, giving him 48 hours to leave the country.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The decision comes after a Malian rights activist last month denounced the security situation in the country in a speech to a UN gathering, and accused the regime's new Russian military partners of serious rights violations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The foreign ministry had declared Guillaume Ngefa Atonodok Andali, head of MINUSMA's human rights section, persona non grata, said a statement issued by government spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"This measure comes after the destabilising and subversive actions of Monsieur Andali," added the statement, which was also read out on national&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;">television news.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Andali had taken it upon himself to decide who were the representatives of civil society, ignoring the authorities and national institutions, the statement added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Andali's bias was even more evident during the last review of the United Nations Security Council on Mali", the statement added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On January 27, rights activist Aminata Cheick Dicko criticised the regime at a special UN Security Council briefing on Mali.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Then on January 31, UN rights experts in Geneva called for an independent probe into abuses and possible war crimes in Mali carried out by government forces and Russia's Wagner group, which has been operating alongside them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Growing tension -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">MINUSMA was set up in 2013 to try to stabilise Mali in the face of the growing threat from jihadist fighters.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Its mission also included the protection of civilians, contributing to peace efforts and defending human rights.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Although its mandate was renewed in 2019, the deteriorating security situation has raised questions in Mali and abroad about thecontinuing usefulness of the UN mission.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some of the countries that once contributed to it have either already pulled out or are planning to. They include France and Ivory Coast, both of which have had major diplomatic breaks with Mali's military regime.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Other countries including Egypt, Germany and Sweden have either pulled out of the mission or announced that they are going to do so.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Germany's defence ministry said last Monday its soldiers would be pulling out by May 2024 because it made no sense to stay on when the troops could not fulfill their mission.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tensions between the Malian authorities and the UN mission have increased with the arrival of the military junta, which seized power two years ago, promising to tackle the jihadist threat.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But the security situation has continued to deteriorate in the west African country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The military regime has repeatedly blocked MINUSMA's attempts to investigate reports of human rights abuses carried out by the armed forces. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>