Minister for the Armed Forces statement in the House of Commons
on the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Mali.
Rt Hon : West Africa is an
important region for the United Kingdom and our allies across
Europe. And the UK is strongly committed to supporting the UN to
deliver its peacekeeping commitments around the world. That is
why since 2018 we had been supporting the French-led
counter-terrorism mission in Mali with CH-47 Chinook helicopters
under Operation BARKHANE and more recently, since 2020, through
the deployment of a Long Range Reconnaissance Group as part of
the UN’s MINUSMA peacekeeping mission.
The House will be aware, however, that in February, President
Macron announced the drawdown of French troops in Mali and was
joined in that announcement by all other European nations, as
well as Canada, that were contributing to the French-led
Operations BARKHANE and TAKUBA. In March, Sweden announced that
it would be leaving the UN’s MINUSMA mission.
Today, Mr Speaker, I can announce that the UK contingent will
also now be leaving the MINUSMA mission earlier than planned.
Mr Speaker, we should be clear that responsibility for all of
this sits in Bamako. Two coups in three years have undermined
international efforts to advance peace. On my most recent visit
last November, I met with the Malian Defence Minister and
implored him to see the huge value of the French-led
international effort in his country.
However, soon afterwards, the Malian Government began working
with the Russian mercenary group Wagner and actively sought to
interfere with the work of both the French-led and UN missions.
The Wagner group is linked to mass human rights abuses. The
Malian government’s partnership with Wagner group is
counterproductive to lasting stability and security in their
region.
Mr Speaker, this Government cannot deploy our nation’s military
to provide security when the host country’s Government is not
willing to work with us to deliver lasting stability and
security.
However, our commitment to West Africa and the important work of
the UN is undiminished. We’ve been working closely with our
allies to consider options for rebalancing our deployment
alongside France, the EU and other like-minded allies. On Monday
and Tuesday next week, Mr Speaker, I will join colleagues from
across Europe and West Africa in Accra to co-ordinate our renewed
response to instability in the Sahel.
This will be the first major gathering in support of the Accra
Initiative – a West African-led solution focussed initially on
preventing further contagion of the insurgency into Cote
d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Niger and tackling the growing
levels of violence in Burkina Faso as well as Mali – making this
a very timely conference indeed.
And of course, Mr Speaker, it is not just the UK military that
will remain committed in West Africa – the UK will continue its
commitment to Mali and the Sahel through our humanitarian,
stabilisation and development assistance, working in close
coordination with partners.
Nor, Mr Speaker, is this a reduction in our commitment to the
United Nations. The UK remains an important contributor of troops
through Operation TOSCA in Cyprus, and staff officers across
several missions, and provide training to around 10,000 military,
police and civilian peacekeepers from a range of countries
annually. We remain the fifth largest financial contributor and
will continue to drive reform in New York. Indeed we are working
with New York on developing a pilot – to be delivered through the
British Peace Support Team based in Nairobi – to develop the
capacity of UN troop contributing nations across Africa.
Mr Speaker, we will of course co-ordinate with allies as we
drawdown from Gao and have been sharing our plans with them over
recent months. The Army will be issuing orders imminently to
reconfigure the next deployment to drawdown our presence. We are
leaving the MINUSMA mission earlier than planned and are, of
course, saddened by the way the Government in Bamako has made it
so difficult for well-meaning nations to remain there.
The work of our troops has been outstanding, and they should be
proud of what they’ve achieved there. But through the Chilcott
Report and our wider experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, we –
like so many allies – are clear that the military instrument
should not be deployed on counterinsurgency or countering violent
extremism missions unless there is a clear and compelling
commitment towards political progress.
We will work quickly with allies in the region and across Europe
to support the Accra Initiative to deliver security, stability
and prosperity in West Africa. Our commitment to that region is
undiminished.