Noisy motorbikes pass through the streets, and in the market, customers saunter between the stands.It seems like just another day in Timbuktu — the northern Malian city whose name resonates from the Sahel’s glorious past to its jihadist-torn present.Behind the scenes, though, many people here are worried as Mali’s ruling junta tussles with the UN over the future of its peacekeeping force in the country.Last Friday, Mali called on the United Nations to remove its 15,000 personnel immediately, condemning what it called their “failure” to meet security challenges.The demand comes as the mandate of the decade-old MINUSMA mission expires on June 30.In Timbuktu, many people agreed that the force — the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission — had failed to roll back jihadism.But others warned against its withdrawal, voicing concern especially for the local economy.”MINUSMA has done nothing in terms of peace and stability in Mali,” said Aboubacar Maiga, a teacher. “We haven’t seen any significant change.”Maimouna Sogore, a local woman, said, “I am not bothered whether MINUSMA stays or goes.”- Dangerous mission -In 2012, Tuareg rebels, abetted by jihadists, swept through northern Mali.The world was shocked by images of jihadists destroying Timbuktu’s ancient mausoleums — a priceless heritage from the golden era of Islamic expansion.France intervened to push back the insurgents and in 2013 MINUSMA began its long and perilous deployment.Over the years, jihadist attacks have cost the lives of 187 personnel, two of them this month alone.Today, the mosques in Timbuktu have been rebuilt and the city’s hoard of priceless manuscripts, which were squirrelled away to protect them from the insurgents, are safely stored in libraries that have been rebuilt by MINUSMA.The city and its environs are considered secure up to a radius of some 30 kilometres (18 miles), but villages beyond that are under jihadist threat.”MINUSMA helped to ease the grip on cities and avoid the siege situation that has happened in some places in northern Burkina Faso,” said Jean-Herve Jezequel, a Sahel expert at the International Crisis Group (ICG) conflict NGO.Salaha Aboudje, a Timbuktu teacher, said part of the problem lay with MINUSMA’s operational parameters, which he said were too defensive.”MINUSMA can improve by helping the Malian state to defend its territory instead of being a force of intercession. It should be a force of intervention,” he said.”That said, should we be asking for it to leave? I’m not in favour.”In April, as the question of MINUSMA’s mandate renewal arose, Timbuktu residents rallied for the mission to stay.”The people who are calling for MINUSMA to leave have been manipulated and have absolutely no knowledge of what’s happening on the ground,” a member of civil society said, speaking on condition of anonymity.Also unrecognised, said this source, were the many projects that have been implemented by MINUSMA, the only body capable for managing projects funded by the UN or other international organisations in a region of poor security.Initiatives include repairing the highway between Timbuktu and the airport, installing solar-powered street lights around the town, renovating government buildings, improving water supplies and building sports facilities.MINUSMA also helped ease traditional tensions between herders and farmers by setting down perimeters on land use.- Financial hit -Of more immediate concern for some locals was the loss of income from service jobs that would go if MINUSMA pulled out.Thousands of people in Mali, from analysts and translators to drivers and community mediators, are employed by MINUSMA.They provide a bounty in a country where per capita income is typically no more than a couple of dollars per day.”From an economic viewpoint, (withdrawal) will leave a hole that nothing apparently can fill at this point,” said Jezequel.”All these young people have become used to earning 400,000-500,000 CFA francs ($670-834) per month,” said a person with an NGO.”If you take that away, what you do expect these people to become? The risk is that they turn to crime, let alone terrorism.”Some people said they saw the MINUSMA issue as further confirmation in their eyes that northern Mali, so remote from the capital Bamako, was once again being ignored by those in power.”We get it — the views of people in the north don’t count,” said one.
