The United Nations Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution creating for the first time new combat peacekeeping troops for Mali.

Former colonial master France intervene in the country in January this year after militants in the north of the country took advantage of a coup d’état by Captain Amadou Sanogo coupled with Tuareg insurgency.

France has since been successful in the intervention with a boost from troops from the African Union but now wants to withdraw its forces.

France began withdrawing some of its 4,000 troops earlier this month but has been pushing for a UN force to take over from the West African force, which has now yielded results with the creation of the new peacekeeping force.

But France says it will leave behind 1,000 of its forces to provide the needed assistance to the new peacekeeping force.

The resolution created 12,600 forces and it is intended to incorporate some 6,000 African Union soldiers already in the country.

The peacekeeping force will be made up of 11,200 military personnel and 1,440 police officers, making it the third largest, after those in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Darfur in Sudan.

An anonymous United Nations official reportedly told reporters after the Security Council meeting that the peacekeeping force will cost up to $800m a year which will push the budget of the world governing body high.

The parameters within which the new peacekeeping force will operate include protecting key population centers, especially in the north of Mali and to deter threats, initiate and actively take active effective steps to prevent the return of armed elements to those areas it used to operate.

The peacekeeping force will be an expansion of a joint West African force already in the country which is working very hard to bring peace and stability in the country.

Mali is due to hold nationwide elections in July this year of which France said is a step in right direction in bringing peace to the country but gave a stern warning that the country should be free from militants before elections are conducted.

The Tuareg rebels who supported France against the militants in the north has said that they will only put their arms down after a negotiation with the government and not putting arms down before negations.

This new peacekeeping force will be deploy to the country in July but will go early enough before the elections to make sure that the elections is not marred with violence.

Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa News

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