The UN last week officially took over command of the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (Minusma) in the quest to pacify the West African country that has been in a political turmoil since early last year. Mali has over the past few months emerged as the newest front in a global battle against Islamic radicals. Former colonial power France deployed some 4,000 troops, alongside a regional African force, in a nine-week operation that drove Islamists into the Adrar des Ifoghas Mountains, a massif in Mali’s Kidal region that covers about 250,000 square kilometres. Minusma will be 12,000-strong at full deployment, making it the third largest UN mission, and will be commanded by Rwanda’s Maj. Gen Jean Bosco Kazura, who was last month appointed by the UN Secretary General as Force Commander.The mission will undoubtedly play a key role in presidential polls scheduled for July 28.What is more, if Kigali agrees, Rwandan peacekeepers may also be deployed in the near future. In a news conference last month, President Paul Kagame acknowledged that "There is a possibility of sending troops to Mali.” A request had already been made, he said. Earlier, on January 28, while speaking at an AU Summit during the debate on Mali, President Kagame said: "Africa cannot, and should not, fold its arms when terrorist and criminal groups are occupying over half the territory of a Member State, carrying out the most atrocious crimes against innocent civilians and destroying monuments that are of great significance to Africa’s heritage and civilization.”Olivier Nduhungirehe, Rwanda’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, says General Kazura was appointed Force Commander of Minusma, "first, because of his personal competence and experience.” The second reason, Nduhungirehe says, is "because of the role Rwanda has played in peacekeeping operations for the last nine years, particularly in Darfur.” Before his selection, Kazura – who was the Commandant of Gabiro School of Infantry– competed for the top job with three other generals from other countries."We [Rwanda] are the sixth largest troops contributing country, and the professionalism of the RDF is appreciated by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations,” Nduhungirehe said. Rwanda has over 3,200 peacekeepers in Darfur, Sudan, serving under the AU/UN hybrid mission in Darfur. It also maintains 850 peacekeepers deployed in South Sudan, under the aegis  of United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).In Darfur alone, Rwandan troops have won wide recognition and accolades, for both protecting civilian populations and helping transform the socio-economic conditions of local communities. They have built schools, medical facilities, markets for women as well as introduced Umuganda [community work] in Darfur. Amb. Basile Gateretse, a senior political officer at the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom), was particularly "happy to hear that a citizen of Rwanda has been chosen to lead the peacekeeping mission in Mali.”"Rwandans should be proud of that and we, as neighbours and EAC  partner states, are also proud of that appointment. Rwanda came from so far and it has so quickly risen to assist other countries such as Sudan, and now Mali,” he said."As a country that suffered a lot from internal conflict and Genocide and successfully emerged from it, Rwanda is now able to assist other countries to secure their own territories. That is great.”An uphill taskWhile speaking in Geneva last week, Ki-moon said holding a poll on July 28 that was credible, peaceful and accepted by all Malians would be "an enormous undertaking.”According to the UN, the peacekeepers under Kazura’s command will operate under robust rules of engagement with a mandate to use all necessary means to address threats to the implementation of its mandate, which include protection of civilians under imminent threat of physical violence and protection of UN personnel from residual threats, within its capabilities and its areas of deployment. As reported, this could include the conduct of operations on its own or in cooperation with the Malian security forces. French forces deployed in Mali are also authorised to intervene in support of Minusma when "under imminent and serious threat”, upon request.It is envisaged that the majority of the military, police and civilian substantive and support components would operate primarily in northern Mali. A light presence, including civilians, military and police elements would reportedly be based in Bamako, the capital and largest city of Mali. Some analysts, however, have predicted a chaotic poll come July 28. Asked about the likely challenges awaiting the Rwandan general in a country whose political crisis and borders on the north reach deep into the middle of the Sahara Desert, Nduhungirehe acknowledged there are undeniable odds, but remained optimistic. Nduhungirehe said: "we cannot underestimate the challenges. The Malian authorities were facing a war, waged by Ansar Dine, MUJAO and other terrorist organisations. Minusma has, therefore, an important task ahead, in stabilising the country and ensuring that Mali restores its constitutional order, including during the upcoming elections.”Ansar Dine or "defenders of the faith” in Arabic, is a militant Islamist group reportedly led by Iyad Ag Ghaly, one of the most prominent leaders of the Tuareg rebellion in the 1990s. He is suspected of having ties with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The al-Qaeda-linked group reportedly sought the imposition of strict Sharia Law across Mali. The Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) is an active militant organisation that reportedly broke off from the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), and announced its first armed action in December 2011, with the goal of spreading jihad across West Africa. "We hope that, with the experience of the Special Representative of the Secretary General, Bert Konders (The Netherlands); the leadership of General Kazura and the commitment of African troops deployed in Minusma, peace and stability will prevail in Mali and the region,” Nduhungirehe said.Northern Mali conflictIn mid-January 2012, a Tuareg rebellion began in Northern Mali, led by a movement known as the Mouvement National Pour la Libération de l’Azawad (MNLA), along with Islamic armed groups including Ansar Dine, AQIM and MUJAO in addition to deserters from the Malian armed forces, initiated a series of attacks against government forces in the north of the country. The Tuareg rebellion was emboldened by the presence of well-equipped combatants returning from Libya in the wake of the fall of the regime there.In March, that year, military officer Captain Amadou Sanogo seized power in a coup d’état, citing President Amadou Touré’s failures in quelling the rebellion, and leading to sanctions and an embargo by the Ecowas bloc.The MNLA quickly took control of the north but Islamist groups including Ansar Dine and AQIM, who had helped the MNLA defeat the government, turned on the Tuareg – the historic, nomadic inhabitants of northern Mali – and took control of the North with the goal of implementing sharia in Mali.The coup accelerated the collapse of the State in the north, allowing MNLA to easily overrun government forces in the regions of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu and proclaimed an independent State of Azawad on April 6. January 2013 crisis The security situation in Mali further deteriorated in early January 2013, when elements of Ansar Dine and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa, with the support of Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, advanced southwards. On January 11, the French army intervened reportedly at the request of the Sanogo government. As a result of the consequent French and African military operations alongside the Malian army in northern areas, the security situation in Mali improved. Minusma recognises that even when full territorial integrity is regained, many serious security risks will remain, including terrorist attacks, weapons proliferation, drug smuggling and other related criminal activities, which are likely to continue to undermine governance and development in Mali for the foreseeable future.