Mali’s top diplomat demands UN peacekeepers leave the country after more than 10 years

By BABA AHMED and SAM MEDNICK
Associated Press

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali’s top diplomat has demanded that U.N. peacekeepers who have been in the country for more than a decade leave immediately. The African nation’s foreign minister made the request on Friday at a U.N. Security Council meeting. Abdoulaye Diop says the U.N. mission has not achieved its objectives and is sowing distrust among the people. Mali has struggled to contain an Islamic extremist insurgency since 2012. Extremist rebels were forced from power in Mali’s northern cities the following year, under a French-led military operation, but they regrouped in the desert and began launching attacks on the Malian army and its allies. The U.N. peacekeepers came in a few months later. There was no immediate U.N. response to Mali’s request.