I. Introduction 1.
The present report is submitted pursuant to Security Council resolution 2085 (2012) of 20 December 2012, in which the Council requested that I report on the implementation of the resolution. The report summarizes major political and security developments in Mali since the adoption of the resolution and outlines the multidimensional response of the United Nations to the crisis, while making recommendations on the way forward. The report also responds to the request of the Council as conveyed in a letter from the President of the Council to the Secretary-General dated 27 February 2013 (S/2013/129), to include in the report recommendations for the Council’s consideration on options for establishing a United Nations peacekeeping operation, with regard to the letter from the Secretary-General to the President of the Council, dated 25 February, by which a letter from the interim President of Mali, Dioncounda Traoré, was transmitted to the Council (S/2013/113), in which the interim President envisages the transformation of the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) into a United Nations stabilization and peacekeeping operation.