Bamako [
], December 12: The UN's peacekeeping mission in Mali held a closure ceremony in Bamako on Monday to mark the end of its deployment to the West African country, spokeswoman MyriamDessables said.
MINUSMA held a closure ceremony for its camp in Sevare in the central Mopti region on Friday, finally closing the camp on Saturday. It had earlier closed its Ogossagou and Douentza bases also in the region. The Sevare closure marked the end of a MINUSMA presence in central Mali.
Dessables said the Bamako ceremony was a symbolic gesture to mark the formal end of the mission on December 31 after more than 10 years. MINUSMA was set up by a UN Security Council resolution in April 2013 and deployed in July of that year. In mid-June, Mali's military government demanded the withdrawal of all 12,000 UN peacekeepers in the country.
Source: Qatar Tribune
