Malians who thrived with arrival of UN peacekeeping mission fear economic fallout from its departure

BAMAKO, Mali — Nearly 10 years ago, Mariame Coulibaly Sangare lost everything when armed violence in northern Mali forced her to flee her home. “If the Malian authorities fail to make investments to compensate for the U.N. mission’s departure, Bamako’s relations with populations in the north could become strained,” the group headquartered in Belgium said. Mali’s national employment agency has asked local contractors working for the U.N. mission to register with the government to aid “the development of national strategies to mitigate the effects of job losses,” agency Director General Ibrahim Ag Nock said. Once the U.N. mission leaves, the International Peace Institute’s Boutellis said, “the and its Russian allies will be much more on the front lines and potentially much more exposed.” Aid groups say the end of the peacekeeping mission also will impede their ability to reach some of Mali’s most vulnerable people in insecure areas unreachable by road. Regular U.N. patrols also helped provide safe passage to villagers living in dangerous areas, said Action for Development and Wellbeing President Ould Ahmed M’Bareck, whose local nonprofit provides aid to displaced families in northern Mali.