UN To Consider Sanctions Regime For Mali

UN to consider sanctions regime for Mali

UNITED NATIONS, United States, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Jan, 2017 ) : The UN Security Council on Wednesday agreed to consider setting up a sanctions regime for Mali to punish those who are hindering a struggling peace deal, the council president said.

The council discussed the faltering peace effort in Mali after a car bomb killed 50 people in the northern city of Gao in an attack on joint patrols set up under the agreement. Condemning the attack, council members said "persistent delays threaten the viability of the agreement" signed by the Malian government and rebel groups 19 months ago, said Swedish Ambassador Olof Skoog, this month's council president.

The council discussed ways to shore up the peace deal "including the possibility and implications of establishing a sanctions regime to increase pressure on those who obstruct implementation or resume hostilities," Skoog told reporters.

The United Nations is pushing for full implementation of the peace accord signed in June 2015 between the Malian government and rebel groups aimed at ending years of fighting in the north.