A UN peacekeeping force will take charge of security in Mali from July 1 but plans to hold a presidential election next month face "major" obstacles, UN officials said Tuesday.
The UN Security Council held its final meeting on the Mali conflict on Tuesday and no objections were raised to deploying what will become the UN's third biggest peacekeeping operation with 12,600 troops.
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-Qaeda linked militants on the capital.
UN envoy to Mali Albert Koenders told the 15-nation council that security in Mali is improving. But he said there were clashes between rival Tuareg and Islamist groups and there was still an "important" risk of guerrilla attacks.
French forces are due to formally hand over security duties to the UN on Monday but at least 1,000 French troops will stay in the country to carry out anti-terrorism operations.
The UN 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" on the election, delivering election materials around the country and registering the hundreds of thousands of displaced and refugees from the conflict.
Koenders said that human rights in the country, particularly the northern regions that were under Islamist control, remains "precarious".
He said UN 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 UN expects the peacekeeping force to be at full strength by the end of the year.
UN 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 UN standards so they can be definitely integrated into the force.
Ladsous also said that the Chad contingent to the force would be strictly monitored. Chad is on a UN 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, as well as provide training on child protection issues," Ladsous said.
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