El-Ghassim Wane, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Mali, told the Security Council on Tuesday that aspirations for an early settlement to insurgency and unrest had not materialized a decade after civil violence started in the nation.

"Insecurity has expanded, the humanitarian situation has deteriorated, more children are out of school and the country has been affected by an endless cycle of instability," the UN's top envoy added.

In fact, in 2022, over 1.8 million individuals are predicted to require food assistance, up from 1.3 million in 2021, marking the greatest level of food insecurity since 2014.

Furthermore, school closures have impacted almost half a million youngsters, putting "the country's future in peril," according to the envoy.

Despite these difficulties, Mr. Wane asserted that the situation "would have been substantially worse" if the international community had not intervened, including the deployment of the UN peacekeeping operation (MINUSMA) in 2013.

The new sanctions include, among other things, the recall of ambassadors from Bamako, the closure of land and air borders, the suspension of all commercial and financial transactions (with some exceptions), and the suspension of financial aid.