United Nations (United States) - (AFP) - The UN Security Council decided to extend the mission of the United Nations peace mission in Mali for a year without French air support, as in the past, which may prompt European countries to leave this international force, which consists of about 15 thousand soldiers and police.

It is a "risk," said a diplomat, who asked not to be named, hinting at the survival of Germany and Britain in this operation, which was launched in 2013 and is now the mission that has suffered the largest number of casualties among peacekeepers.

On Wednesday evening, the Security Council adopted a resolution drafted by France to extend the mission's mission until June 30, 2023, by 13 votes out of 15, with Russia and China abstaining.

Moscow made it clear that it had abstained from the vote due to "interfering formulas" in the text on human rights with financial sovereignty.

The resolution provides for maintaining the current workforce - 13,289 soldiers and 1,920 policemen - and calls on peacekeepers to support the implementation of the peace agreement signed in 2015, a political transition, the return of state authority in the center of the country and the protection of civilians and human rights.

The text requires the UN Secretary-General to submit a report by January in order to adapt the mission's format and study the evolution of its relations with the ruling military group.

And Bamako confirmed in early June that it was out of the question to allow Paris, while the French army was withdrawing from Mali, to continue operating on its territory with its aircraft stationed in Chad. Mali refuses to leave the foreign forces through the door, only to return through the window, as Malian Foreign Minister Abdallah Diop said in the Security Council at the time.

The finance minister told media on Monday that any French air support for the peacekeeping force was a "red line". After announcing this position, Paris crossed out every phrase related to maintaining French air support from the first text.

In a confidential report presented to the Security Council, United Nations experts in charge of sanctions against the jihadist organizations of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State warned of their development in the Sahel region after the French withdrawal from Mali.

In this document obtained by Agence France-Presse, they said that "the ongoing military reconfiguration in the region may harm efforts to combat terrorism."

The resolution adopted by the Council includes only a small reference in its introduction to the controversial presence of mercenaries from the private Russian Wagner Company, which Bamako denies, stressing that it only accepts assistance from those who are "trained" under an old bilateral agreement with Moscow.
In its resolution, the UN Security Council condemns "the use of mercenaries and violations of international humanitarian law and human rights violations they commit," without mentioning the name of the force as Washington and London want, according to a diplomatic source.

The decision maintains the mandate to protect human rights, which the financial authorities, with the support of Moscow and Beijing, sought to reduce.

In the text, he wrote, peacekeepers must "monitor, document, carry out fact-finding missions, assist in the investigation and provide public and quarterly reports to the Security Council on violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of human rights."

On Monday, Abdallah Diop expressed his regret over the "excessive focus on human rights with a very heavy machinery" accompanied by "a large number of reports."

In recent months, NGOs have accused the Malian forces and their Russian backers, including Wagner mercenaries, of committing atrocities.

Diplomats said that the United Nations mission, which is obligated to open investigations in the event of allegations, has witnessed a decrease in its freedom of movement significantly since the beginning of the year.

After the vote, the French ambassador to the United Nations, Nicolas de Rivière, stated, "The freedom of movement of the United Nations mission must be guaranteed," stressing that "violations of human rights and international humanitarian law must stop."

It is assumed that a United Nations report will be published soon on the massacre of hundreds of civilians at the hands of Malian soldiers with the help of foreign fighters between 27 and 31 March in Mora (center) - where the UN mission was denied entry.