and in mali, where first the french army withdrew and now the united nations has voted to take out its force. but wagner, which is supporting the authoritarian regime in mali against militant islamic groups, is definitely staying. beverly 0chieng of bbc monitoring covers the activities of these groups and of wagner itself from nairobi. i asked her first why mali's interim president, colonel assimi goita, wanted the un troops out. when the junta came into power in 2020, there had been growing public disgruntlement at the fact that the un mission was not doing enough to stem militant violence. i remember during the year when there was covid, there were some reports of instances where residents in the central and northern regions would not allow un personnel into their communes because they felt that un presence was making no difference. violence had worsened over the years. un peacekeepers had been there for nearly a decade at that point.