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UN peacekeepers are finishing their withdrawal from Mali on Sunday, after a long-running mission lasting a decade.
Minusma – the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission – began in 2013 after an armed rebellion, but has been asked to leave by the country’s ruling military government.
The UN mission’s head said it did a lot but fell below expectations.
With some 310 peacekeepers killed, Minusma was the UN’s second deadliest mission worldwide, after Lebanon.
In the summer, Mali told the UN that its 12,000 peacemakers needed to leave, and the UN Security Council voted to withdraw the mission
UN staff have been leaving in stages for months, with a deadline of 31 December for full withdrawal.
On Friday, local media reported that Minusma had handed over control of one of its last major camps in the northern Timbuktu region ahead of the deadline, for security reasons.
Timbuktu was one of three sites which were supposed to remain open to manage the end of the mission after 31 December, but the UN was worried about the presence of militants, reports said.
El-Ghassim Wane, head of the UN mission, said in a recorded statement that there was a “gap between what we were mandated to do and we were able to do”.
“We did a lot but definitely it was below expectations and below the needs,” he added.
