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In the context of the current UN-led stabilization efforts in Mali, the United Nations peacekeeping mission undertakes significant investments in small-scale infrastructure development. The projects not only point to the spatial imprint of peacebuilding on the post-war landscape, but to the imagined performative power of infrastructure. Based on a survey of policy document and official communications, I investigate UN peacekeepers' narratives of reconstruction, development, and peace promoted through this infrastructure building, and essentially, their role as urban planners in the context of the international military intervention. The account of peacebuilding through infrastructure projects and development resonates with the liberal peace paradigm but also problematizes the practice of civil–military intervention and its focus on infrastructure as device to achieving peace goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the abundance of evidence that peacekeeping works, we know little about what actually makes peacekeepers effective. Recent work suggesting that local agendas are central to modern conflicts make this omission particularly problematic. The article demonstrates that the presence of peacekeepers makes individuals more optimistic about the risks of engagement and the likelihood that members of out-groups will reciprocate cooperation. I use data from a lab-in-the-field experiment conducted in Mali, a West African country with an active conflict managed by troops from France and the United Nations (UN), to show that UN peacekeepers increase the willingness of individuals to cooperate relative to control and French enforcers. Moreover, I find that UN peacekeepers are especially effective among those participants who hold other groups and institutions in low esteem, as well as those who have more frequent contact with peacekeepers. Follow-up interviews and surveys suggest that perceptions of the UN as unbiased rather than other mechanisms account for its effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MINUSMA, the UN peace operation in Mali, represents a new development in peace missions, due to the insecure transnational context in which it has evolved and its mandate to collaborate with counterterrorist forces in the region. The goal of this paper is to study this new development, using Enloe's feminist theorization of the concept of militarization. I base my analysis on an understanding of militarization as a social process that can be adapted or contested. Grounded in a qualitative methodology, I study MINUSMA and its peacekeepers in order to identify how the process of militarization takes place within/through the mission. My principal argument is that the context of robust peacekeeping, combined with the implications of collaboration with counterterrorist operations and the reengagement of NATO troop contributing countries, creates a space in which militarization is reinforced for the mission and its peacekeepers and that this impacts how they interact with one another and what practices they favour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the benefits of on‐site printing at remote geographic locations, where access to spare parts is intermittent and supplies are replenished at fixed intervals. Organizations typically have no solution to spare parts shortages other than expensive expediting orders, or waiting for a part to arrive with the next replenishment. We investigate whether on‐site three‐dimensional (3D) printing of spare parts can bring relief. Our work extends dual‐sourcing literature with fixed order cycles by considering two emergency supply options: expediting regular parts and 3D printing lower quality parts. We model the replenishment and emergency supply decisions as a Markov decision process and find that the optimal inventory control policy consists of two thresholds that control when to expedite, when to print and when to wait for regular parts via the next replenishment. We apply our model to a case study of the Royal Netherlands Army (RNLA) for her United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali. Our results show that on‐site 3D printing, much more so than expediting, leads to large operational cost savings through on‐site inventory reductions and increased asset availability, thus increasing the ability of the RNLA to operate in remote locations. These results extend to many other organizations that operate in remote locations, for example, those in the mining and offshore industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B The withdrawal of UN Peacekeeping mission heightens tensions. b The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali on August 13th said it had brought forward its withdrawal from a base in the north of the country due to deteriorating security conditions. I (© AFP 15/8 202; PANA 18/8) i The MINUSMA force's departure from Ber came after the Malian army on August 12th said six soldiers died and 24 fighters from "armed terrorist groups" were killed in a skirmish in the area on August 11th. [Extracted from the article]

HRW added that B Russia's Wagner Group b has been implicated in "atrocities" in several African countries, including Mali, and also documented "serious abuses" by Malian security as well as "apparent Wagner forces during counter-insurgency operations in central Mali." B Atrocities are reported as MINUSMA withdraws. b Armed Islamist groups have carried out widespread killing, rape and looting in northeast Mali in 2023 forcing thousands of people to flee, Human Rights Watch ( B HRW b ) said on July 13th, noting that security had deteriorated sharply. [Extracted from the article]

This paper addresses two issues that have only been marginally discussed in the literature about peace operations: First, it investigates the legitimacy of peace operations from the perspective of populations of states that receive them. Secondly, it assesses how host populations perceive different types of peace interventions; by the UN, by a regional organization and by an individual state. A conceptual framework of the local legitimacy of peace operations is applied to an analysis of the perceptions of the French, ECOWAS and UN interventions in Mali in 2013–14. Local perception was measured by an analysis of Malian newspaper articles and interviews with (mainly southern) civil society actors. The results suggest that local actors negotiate between pragmatic and ideological conceptions of legitimacy. While French forces are pragmatically valued for their military achievements, they receive little ideological legitimacy. The regional force has high ideological legitimacy but disappoints in its performance on the ground. The UN force scores low in ideological legitimacy and is ambiguous in terms of pragmatic legitimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

B MINUSMA is in the balance as countries back out. b A shadow has fallen over the United Nations' peacekeeping mission in jihadist-embattled Mali, one of the UN's biggest operations, after a string of countries announced they would pull out. A UN official in Mali, who asked to remain anonymous, said that despite "problems", MINUSMA had made huge contributions to civilian life. [Extracted from the article]

"This suspension measure does not involve the export of refined petroleum products from Niger which continue to be exported to Mali", said a statement from Abdoulkadri. Niger - Mali: Oil Shipments Suspended Niger decided to suspend the transit shipment of oil products to neighbouring Mali, but the move preceded and had no link with recent criticism by Mali's leadership of Niger's president, government officials in Niamey said on September 27th. [Extracted from the article]

Its 17,600 troops, police, civilians and volunteers make it one of the UN's biggest peacekeeping missions. B The spat magnifies tensions between Bamako and the UN. b The UN's peacekeeping mission in Mali has acknowledged there were "dysfunctions" that preceded a row with the Malian authorities sparked by the arrival of Ivorian troops at Bamako airport in July. The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali has been in the country since 2013. [Extracted from the article]

A colonel, reputed to be close to Mali's ruling junta, was arrested following what the authorities describe as an attempted coup, two sources said on May 17th. The junta announced on May 16th that it had thwarted a would-be putsch on May 11th that was led by army officers and "supported by a Western state.". [Extracted from the article]

The article presents the June 25, 2014 United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolution 2164 Authorizing the Revision of the MINUSMA (Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali) Mandate, along with information on the context of the document. Topics include actions by the Malian Defence and Security Forces (MDSF), May 2014 violence provoked by the militant group Mouvement national pour la libération de l'Azawad (MNLA), and international cooperation regarding Mali's crisis.

The relationship between the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU) has at times been characterized by considerable conflict, mistrust, and tension, often hindering the predictability and conduct of effective peace operations. This article analyses the challenges facing UN–AU cooperation on peace and security issues and examines their partnerships in various peace operations. Specific attention is paid to the crucial cases of Somalia and Mali, which exemplify some of the positive and negative aspects of this relationship. We argue that while great power politics and the international normative context have played important roles in structuring debates about peace operations in contemporary Africa, so too have two more bottom-up factors: the specific operational and financial challenges generated by the AU's big missions in Darfur, Somalia, and Mali, and the organizational cultures and bureaucratic constraints within which both institutions have had to work. Greater focus on these bottom-up factors could bring significant improvements to the decision-making processes in Addis Ababa and New York, to operational responses, and to the conduct of peace operations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers news briefs on peacekeeping missions between December 2012 and June 2013 as reported by the intergovernmental organization United Nations (UN). Information on the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) is discussed, including challenges involving the presidential elections, the role of the Africa-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA), and their human rights conditions.

The article discusses militia MUJAO (Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa) and killing of United Nations (UN) peacekeepers in Mali. Topics discussed include MUJAO joining hands with militant Islamic organization Al-Qaeda, failure of security forces in Mali, and requirement of confronting terrorism according to foreign minister Abdoulaye Diop.

The article offers news briefs on the security situation in Mali. Peace talks between the Malian government and rebel militias have been put in doubt because of the death of four United Nations peacekeepers. Meherig Jafar, who was suspected to be a lieutenant of Al-Qaeda linked Algerian jihadist commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar has been arrested. A warning has been issued on the resurgence of Islamist fighters in northern Mali by The United Nations' peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous.

The article presents details regarding United Nations sponsored peace talks between the government of Mali and various armed rebel groups and the United Nations' investigation in the killing of protesters in the city of Gao.