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Mali’s military government has given the head of the UN peacekeeping mission’s human rights division 48 hours to leave the country.
In a statement read out on national television, a government spokesman said Guillaume Ngefa-Atondoko Andali had committed “subversive actions” in his selection of witnesses to testify at UN Security Council briefings on Mali.
Last month, a Malian civil society activist who gave evidence at a UN meeting accused the government’s Russian military partners of serious human rights violations.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is due in Mali on Monday for a visit aimed at boosting defence and security ties.
It will be the first official visit to the West African nation by a Russian foreign minister.