Western countries are trying to feed the UN Security Council a lie about Russia's allegedly destructive activities in Mali, with the security interests of this African country receding into the background for the West, Anna Evstigneeva, Russia's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, said this on Wednesday, speaking at a meeting of the Security Council.
"The Russian Federation abstained on a draft resolution prepared by France on extending the mandate of the UN Stabilization Mission in Mali, which plays an important role in stabilizing the situation in the country," the diplomat said. - "We tried to convey our point of view during the negotiations on the draft and consider it important to publicly repeat it today. We strongly believe that the intrusive language in the resolution on the mission's human rights mandate will not help the Malians exercise their sovereign right to protect their own citizens and to investigate incidents".
"We are concerned that this could be used by those who want to smear the transitional government and are unhappy with its independent foreign policy course," Evstigneeva said. - "We're kind of used to how our Western colleagues keep trying to feed the Security Council these fake stories about Russia's allegedly destructive activities in Mali. They do not want to hear us or our Malian colleagues, who, including in this room, thanked Russia for bilateral assistance in the fight against terrorism". She also stressed that Russia had not heard any complaints against it from other African partners.
Russia's deputy representative also drew attention to the fact that Mali is struggling with a tough fight against terrorism, hundreds of civilians and dozens of peacekeepers die every month because of the attacks of extremists, and it is more and more difficult for the UN mission to fulfill its mandate "in conditions of over-the-limit security threats, which were caused, among other reasons, by the withdrawal of the French forces". "For our Western colleagues, however, all of these dire challenges recede into the background when it comes to Russian assistance to this African country," the diplomat pointed out. - "Instead of working on how to make our assistance to the Malians more effective and how to resolve existing regional disagreements rather than foment them, our colleagues highlight issues that have nothing to do with either the priorities of the mission or the priorities of Mali."
The Russian side expects the UN mission to remain impartial and act only in the interests of the Malians and "solve all problems arising through constructive interaction with the authorities of the host country.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: natanaelginting/Freepik
Based on materials from TASS