US urges 'orderly, responsible' drawdown of UN peacekeepers from Mali

FILE PHOTO: United Nations peacekeepers at the MINUSMA base fight fires after a mortar attack in Kidal, Mali, June 8, 2017. MINUSMA/Sylvain Liechti/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

(Reuters) - The United States regrets a decision by Mali's interim military authorities to ask a United Nations peacekeeping force to leave the country, the State Department said on Monday, calling for an "orderly and responsible" drawdown of the mission.

Mali's Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop made the request during a U.N. Security Council meeting on Friday, citing a "crisis of confidence" between Malian authorities and the decade-long U.N. mission known as MINUSMA.