The Islamic State (IS) group now controls about twice the territory it did a year ago, when the last French troops left the country, according to a new United Nations report. Faced with instability in the state, IS rivals, groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda, are gaining popularity among the population as the only actors capable of ensuring their protection.
Fighters from the Islamic State group in the Greater Sahara have nearly doubled the territory they control in Mali in less than a year, the United Nations says in its new report. The jihadist organization has extended its control mainly over the area known as the “three borders” between Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.
The jihadist group faces the Malian Army and its allies, local groups and groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda, such as Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM). In this fighting scenario, civilians are affected. In April, for example, the capture of the city of Tidermène, located to the north of Ménaka, left hundreds of deaths.
The genesis of violence
Mali’s war began in 2012 when a rebellion by Tuareg, Muslim nomads, rose up and seized control of the north of the country. The group was quickly evicted by jihadists, associated with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, who took control of three regions: Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu.
In this context, the country received military aid from France, first with the Serval operation in 2013 and then with the Barkhane operation. The jihadists were expelled from the north, but they moved to the center of Mali in 2015. That same year, the Islamic State was formed in the Greater Sahara.
Finally, also in 2015, the government and the northern separatist rebels signed the Alger peace agreement, but part of the signatories did not respect the agreement and did not lay down their weapons.
Today, the groups operating in the country have multiplied, whether they are local groups, jihadists or allies of the Malian Army.
Break with France and the UN
Since the last coup in the country in 2020, after which President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta was overthrown and replaced by Colonel Assimi Goïta, Mali has decided to distance itself from the Western military presence and get closer to the Russian paramilitary group Wagner.
In August 2022, the last French soldiers who were part of the Barkhane operation and had been operating in Mali since 2014 to fight jihadist groups, left the country.
In June, the junta ordered the UN peacekeeping force (MINUSMA) and its 15,000 international soldiers to leave. This mission had been operating in Mali since 2013 to stop the jihadist insurgency. The UN Security Council ended the mission on June 30 and has until December 31 for its troops to leave the country.
According to the UN report, the rebel armed groups that signed the 2015 peace agreement expressed concern that such an agreement would fall apart in the absence of the UN in the country. According to the report, they said that the departure of MINUSMA could expose “the northern regions to the risk of another uprising.”
MINUSMA “played a crucial role” in such an agreement, allowing talks between the parties, facilitating talks between the parties, supervising its implementation and investigating possible violations, the panel experts said.
JNIM reinforcement
According to the UN experts, and due to the perceived weakness of the groups that signed the peace in 2015, both the IS and its rivals were able to “recreate the 2012 scenario”, during which, in a context of instability, the Jihadist groups had been able to take control of several regions.
According to the report, the implementation of the 2015 agreement is stalled, especially the disarmament and demobilization of combatants. Part of the ex-separatists, who are still armed, have become stronger and now dominate the north of the country militarily. Consequently, JNIM is now competing against them for leadership in northern Mali.
In addition, faced with the growth of violence and insecurity due to IS attacks, those who had signed the peace agreement now “seem weak and unreliable providers of security” for the communities.
JNIM, on the contrary, takes advantage of the situation “and is now positioning itself as the only actor capable of protecting populations against the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara,” the report says.
Crime and sexual violence
Now, ex-separatists, terrorist groups and transnational criminal networks are competing for the trafficking routes through the Gao and Kidal regions.
“Mali remains a hot spot for drug trafficking in West Africa and between the coastal countries of the Gulf of Guinea and North Africa, in both directions,” the report said.
Another point of focus is conflict-related sexual violence, especially in the eastern Menaka and central Mopti regions, “particularly that involving foreign security partners of the Malian armed forces,” such as the Wagner Group.
“Violence against women and other forms of serious abuses against human rights and international humanitarian law are being used, especially by foreign security partners, to sow terror among the population,” the report said.
With AP and local media
#year #Islamic #State #doubled #territory #controls #Mali