The UN Stabilization Mission in Mali. Results and Challenges for MINUSMA

This report provides an analysis of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), looking at its first year of deployment. The report analyses MINUSMA's results and highlights the mission's most important challenges. MINUSMA has been able to support the Malian government and there has been some notable progress. The mission has, together with France, been able to stop the conflict from spreading and several key population centers in northern Mali are now relatively safe. Following elections in 2013, Mali once again has a democratically elected government. However, the lack of progress in the peace negotiations has made it difficult for MINUSMA to move forward on a number of important areas, including security sector reform and the demobilisation of armed groups. The report identifies five areas that pose considerable challenges to the implementation of MINUSMA's mandate: mission support, force generation, command and control, operational effect and the security situation. These challenges are analysed in detail in the report. It concludes with a discussion on the coming Swedish troop contribution to MINUSMA, and particular challenges that an intelligence component is likely to face in Mali.