UN convoy stretching 9 kilometers ends harrowing trip in Mali that saw 37 peacekeepers hurt by IEDs
By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations says a 9-kilometer-long U.N. convoy withdrawing from a rebel stronghold in northern Mali arrived at its destination after a harrowing 350-kilometer journey that saw vehicles hit six improvised explosive devices and injure 37 peacekeepers. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Wednesday that the convoy, comprising 143 vehicles carrying 848 peacekeepers and equipment, left the U.N. base in Kidal on Oct. 31 and arrived in the eastern town of Gao on the Niger River on Tuesday night after a journey “under the most difficult circumstances.” In June, Mali’s military junta, which overthrew the democratically elected president in 2021, ordered the nearly 15,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force known as MINUSMA to leave.