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Mr. Chairman of the Board of Directors,
On the eve of your term as President of the Security Council, I have the pleasure to extend to you and the entire delegation of Sierra Leone my warm congratulations for the excellent work you have done during the month of August 2024.
Ladies and gentlemen, members of the Security Council, ladies and gentlemen,
The Malian delegation is participating in this meeting primarily to express its serious concern about the impact and consequences of the supply of arms to Ukraine for our country and people, far from the front lines between Russia and Ukraine.
As you know, since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine crisis, the Malian government has adopted a neutral stance.
However, we are increasingly concerned that the crisis is gradually spreading to areas far from the front lines, as we saw last July in Mali, the Sahel and even Africa.
In fact, the spokesman of the Ukrainian Military Intelligence Service and the Ukrainian Ambassador to Senegal openly and confidently admitted that Ukraine participated in the cowardly, crude attacks caused by armed terrorist organizations on July 24, 25 and 26, 2024. The deaths of Malian defense and security forces personnel and significant material losses were caused in Tinzawateni, Mali.
Worse still, these same senior Ukrainian officials publicly announced other “imminent outcomes.”
The Malian government once again strongly condemned Ukraine’s pretended support for Mali, the Sahel region and terrorist organizations in Africa. It decided to sever diplomatic relations between Mali and Ukraine.
Mali calls on the Security Council to shoulder its responsibilities in the face of this deliberate choice by Ukraine in order to prevent these subversive actions that threaten the stability of the Sahel region and the African continent.
In light of this unfortunate precedent that I have just condemned, the Government of Mali expresses its deep concern about the supply of weapons of war to Ukraine, since it has now been established that a large part of these weapons supplied to Ukraine fuel terrorism and crime. The situation in the Sahel region threatens to further destabilize our countries and exacerbate the suffering of our peoples, with serious consequences already resulting from years of conflict.
Therefore, we call on countries supplying these weapons to Ukraine to ensure that they do not fall into the hands of terrorist and extremist groups in the Sahel and Africa.
Mali, for its part, does not wish to become a realm of lust or war between powers.
Mr. Chairman of the Board of Directors,
Members of the Security Council, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to take this opportunity to respond to the Ambassador of Algeria, who, at the round table on the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions on the Laws of War, held in Switzerland on August 26, 2024, felt it necessary to declare, and I quote, “that it was learned that a drone had launched an attack in northern Mali that killed about twenty civilians… None of those who pressed the control stick of this drone was responsible for these attacks. … End of quote
In response, I would like to express my great surprise that a diplomat would make such serious and unfounded assertions based on simple journalistic allegations. By peddling such unconfirmed news information at random, he is spreading terrorist propaganda in our region.
For my part, I remind my Algerian colleague that the Malian defence and security forces are professional forces that strictly abide by human rights and international humanitarian law and lead a relentless fight against terrorist organizations to liberate our territory and protect people and property.
On August 25, 2024, FAMa conducted an offensive reconnaissance and found pickup trucks loaded with war equipment under heavy guard in a concession in the Tinzawatna area in northern Kidal.
After careful surveillance, FAMa conducted a series of strikes, destroying these terrorist targets and eliminating about 20 militants.
As you can see, Mr. Ambassador of Algeria and dear brother Amar, these were indeed terrorists, not civilians, who were eliminated by our forces on August 25.
I therefore invite you to adopt a more constructive and respectful attitude towards Mali and its people, in the spirit of the relations of good neighbourliness, fraternity, friendship and cooperation that have existed between Mali and Algeria for centuries.
Thank you for your attention.
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