New York – United Nations criticized Malian authorities for expelling the spokesperson from its peacekeeping mission in the country (Minusma) for violating the organisation's principle of immunity and intends to raise the issue with the Malian authorities.
Malian authorities on Wednesday ordered Olivier Salgado, the spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping mission, MINUSMA, to leave the country within 72 hours.
The UN spokesman Farhan Haq said that the organisation "deeply" regrets the decision and recalled that the declaration of 'persona non grata', something common in the diplomatic world, cannot be applied to UN officials.
As he underlined, this doctrine goes against the "obligations" that countries have under the UN Charter, namely with regard to the privileges and immunities of the organisation and its employees.
Haq said the United Nations planned to discuss the matter with the Malian authorities.
According to a statement released Wednesday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mali, Salgado's expulsion "comes after a series of tendentious and unacceptable publications" on the social network Twitter, referring to the information that the spokesman gave about the detention of 49 military personnel of Cote d’ Ivoire on 10 July.
