UN chief seeks 2,500 more troops for Mali mission, where Chinese peacekeeper was killed

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United Nations peacekeepers stand in front of the site of Tuesday’s attack on Chinese peacekeepers in Gao, Mali. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:50am, 2 Jun 2016Updated: 9:55am, 2 Jun 2016

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked the Security Council to add just over 2,500 peacekeepers to the UN mission in Mali, where Islamic militants this week staged a deadly attack on Chinese peacekeepers.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility on Wednesday for an attack a day earlier on two UN sites in northern Mali where a peacekeeper from China and three civilians were killed and over a dozen others wounded.

Ban’s report to the 15-nation Security Council, issued on Tuesday and seen by reporters on Wednesday, calls for increasing the maximum number of UN soldiers in Mali by 2,049 personnel, which would raise the force’s authorised strength to 13,289.

The report said the additional troops should bring capabilities such as intelligence gathering and surveillance, explosive disposal and protecting supply convoys.

An injured Chinese peacekeeper is treated in Gao, Mali, after a mortar or rocket attack on Chinese peacekeepers on Tuesday. Photo: Xinhua

Ban also called for adding 480 UN police, which would raise the ceiling for police in the UN mission, known as MINUSMA, to 1,920 personnel.

This would enable MINUSMA police to boost training and advisory capacities while “supporting the establishment of transnational organised crime and counterterrorism units in Gao, Mopti and Timbuktu,” Ban’s report said.