U.N. Mali Force to Start July 1 amid Fears over Heat, Election

A U.N. peacekeeping force will take charge of security in Mali from July 1 but plans to hold a presidential election next month face "major" obstacles, officials said Tuesday.

The United Nations also is worried about Mali's furnace-like temperatures melting equipment as it confronts one of its biggest logistical challenges in setting up the 12,600 strong force, which already faces key shortages.

The U.N. Security Council met on the Mali conflict on Tuesday and Britain's U.N. ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said there was "unanimous agreement" to deploy the U.N.'s third biggest peacekeeping operation.

Mali has been in turmoil since March last year when Tuareg rebels and Islamist militants took over the north half of the country.

French forces intervened in January to halt an advance by al-Qaida linked militants on the capital.

U.N. envoy to Mali Albert Koenders told the council that security though there are still clashes between rival Tuareg and Islamist groups and an "important" risk of guerrilla attacks on the U.N. force.

French forces are to formally hand over security duties to the U.N. peacekeepers on Monday but at least 1,000 French troops will stay in the country for counter terrorism duties.

The U.N. force, which will start with about 6,100 West African troops already in Mali, will take responsibility for securing a presidential election provisionally scheduled for July 28.

But Koenders, speaking by videoconference from Bamako, said there would be "major challenges" to holding the election on time.

Problems include maintaining a "broad political consensus" in support of the poll, delivering election materials around the country and getting voting cards to hundreds of thousands of displaced people and refugees.

France's U.N. ambassador Gerard Araud said it was important for the election to be "credible" but said France wanted it held on time if possible.

Koenders said that human rights in the country, particularly the northern regions that were under Islamist control, remains "precarious".

He said U.N. teams sent to Timbuktu, Gao and other northern towns had registered violations by all sides.

"These included disappearances, extra judicial executions, ill-treatment, looting of private property, illegal arrests and arbitrary detention," he said.

The U.N. expects the peacekeeping force to be at full strength by the end of the year.

U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said however that it would face "new and unique" challenges, including the threat of the guerrilla attacks.

The United Nations has given the West African forces four months to get their equipment and training levels up to U.N. standards so they can be definitely integrated into the force.

Ladsous also said the Chad contingent to the force would be strictly monitored as it is on a U.N. blacklist for using child soldiers.

"The United Nations is making every effort to screen the Chadian contingent to be re-hatted and ensure that no troops under 18 are among them," Ladsous said.

The force is already short of helicopters and specialized forces, but the U.N. is also worried that the withering heat could melt equipment.

Ameerah Haq, head of the U.N. peacekeeping field support department told the U.N. Security Council the force would be one of the "most logistically challenging" ever launched by the U.N.

A U.N. team who went to the northern town of Kidal last week recorded temperatures of 52 degrees Celsius (125 degrees Fahrenheit).

"We are unable to deploy our mobile communications system to Kidal because its sensitive components will melt," Haq said.

U.N. generators needed for communications technology and refrigeration would be "put to the test" by the searing heat, she said.

There is also concern that the influx of U.N. forces will "jeopardize" the limited water supply for locals. So the U.N. is now looking into technology that produces water from air humidity, Haq said.

Mali is twice the size of France and about two thirds of the country is desert.