S/PV.8336 Security Council

The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. Members of the Council have before them document S/2018/785, which contains the text of a draft resolution submitted by France. I wish to draw the attention of Council members to document S/2018/581, which contains the text of a letter dated 8 August 2018 from the Panel of Experts established pursuant to resolution 2374 (2017) on Mali addressed to the President of the Security Council. The Council is ready to proceed to the vote on the draft resolution before it. I shall put the draft resolution to the vote now.

The draft resolution received 15 votes in favour. The draft resolution has been adopted unanimously as resolution 2432 (2018). I shall now give the floor to those members of the Council who wish to make statements after the voting.

France welcomes the unanimous adoption of resolution 2432 (2018), renewning the targeted sanctions regime for Mali for a further year. The idea of imposing sanctions on those who obstruct the implementation of the peace process in Mali is embedded in the very content of the Agreement on Peace and Reconciliation in Mali and was thus endorsed by the Malian parties at the time of the agreement’s signing. The Malian authorities then sent a formal request to the Security Council in the light of the many delays in the implementation of the agreement. For the past year, the sanctions regime established by the Security Council has proved to be a useful addition to the range of tools available to the international community to promote a solution to the crisis in Mali. It sends a strong political message of deterrence that has changed the behaviour of certain actors on the ground and undeniably played a role in launching the positive trend of recent months in the implementation of the agreement. Nonetheless, all of us around this table have observed that the progress that has been made is insufficient in the light of expectations and the commitments undertaken. The Council recently welcomed the positive trends of recent months, but at the same time it reiterated its frustration and impatience with respect to this issue. It called for urgent mobilization by the Government and the signatories immediately following the presidential election, which we have just collectively commended for its smooth conduct. The Council will closely follow the implementation of the priority measures laid out in resolution 2423 (2018), which are to be taken within six months. The time for warnings is therefore at an end. The report recently submitted by the Panel of Experts established pursuant to resolution 2374 (2017) on Mali shed incontestible light on the actions of certain lead intermediaries of armed groups on the ground to willfully undermine the implementation of the agreement through their open links to criminal or terrorism activities. France intends to assume its responsibilities in that regard by proposing forthwith their inclusion on the sanctions list. It is also important to underscore that the resolution we have just adopted reiterates the Security Council’s intention to adopt complementary measures in the framework of the sanctions regime if the provisions of the road map adopted in March by the Malian parties are not implemented by the deadline. The failure to honour commitments freely entered into by each of the Malian parties in the framework of the road map cannot go unanswered. Everyone at all levels must be aware of that. Finally, like the other members of the Council, France is fully convinced that sanctions are not an end in themselves and cannot resolve the situation alone. They are one of the tools at the disposal of the international community in its ongoing effort to ensure the implementation of the peace agreement. The issues at stake are far too large for us to content ourselves with the current impasse. The Security Council’s responsibility is therefore to make use of all the leverage available to promote peace and security in Mali and the region. France hereby commits to doing so.