Mali: Hunger Is a New Jihadist Weapon to Subdue the Population

Local sources told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that terrorists use hunger to force farmers to agree to be recruited into their ranks or leave the farm land for them to occupy. Farmers who have already harvested cannot transport it. Those who do not obey see their fields burned and risk being killed.

In the Ségou region of central Mali, the situation is particularly volatile due to fighting between the Donsos, who formed a community militia and self-defense group, and the invading jihadist groups.

In addition, local sources also mention the existence of a third group, armed bandits, difficult to identify, who belong neither to the jihadists nor to the Donsos hunters.

While the terror affects the entire population, the situation of Christians in the region, who are dispersed in several villages, is particularly worrying.

“There are villages where you cannot go to celebrate mass. The faithful must take many precautions in the practice of their faith. Even without being the target of physical attacks, verbal attacks during the sermons of some imams, supporters of jihadist ideologies, are permanent.

“Some harangues are direct threats against Christianity and against Christians. There are also threats via anonymous phone calls. All of this creates psychosis in the communities,” a person in direct contact with the local Church told ACN.

Pastoral work is also affected by the presence of violence and jihadist attacks: “Mobility is very limited. Before, priests spent the night in the villages. Today, that is no longer possible,” confirms the same source.

“The jihadists act in the name of religion. Anyone who does not adhere to their ideology suffers. That’s why there are so many internally displaced people,” the ACN contact explains.

Although the conflict is not purely religious, “we cannot deny that it has to do with religion” because “the desire to impose Islamic Sharia law shows that the jihadists, in particular the Katiba Macina, are working for the expansion of a radical Islam to which many Muslims are also opposed,” indicates the same source.

The jihadist group Katiba Macina is linked to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and operates in central Mali.

According to the latest figures from the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the number of internally displaced people exceeded 400,000 at the end of September 2021. In the first half of this year alone, nearly 90,000 people were reportedly forced to flee their homes. The displaced people are Muslims and Christians, but the number of Muslims is higher as almost 90% (88.7) of Mali's population is Muslim.