<\/p>\n
\u00a9 Patrick Meinhardt\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>A refugee stands next to a tent at a makeshift camp in Doueinkara, near the Mauritanian border with Mali.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u201cThey came to impose their rule\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
Husseini* was a herder in Mali. He left the S\u00e9gou region in October 2024 with members of his family and now lives in the hamlet of Kleiva, in Mauritania.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\u201cWhat happened to us in Mali has happened in many other villages across the country. The jihadists came to our village to impose their rule at gunpoint. We had no choice but to submit. We began paying zakat [statutory alms practised in Islam], and the women began dressing in black. They also demanded that we let them marry our daughters. They looted much of our community\u2019s property, including 20 camels, about 400 cows, and more than a thousand sheep and goats\u2026 We can\u2019t even count the number of times they\u2019ve come to threaten us.<\/p>\n
It was this submission that the army and Wagner [a Russian private military company active in Mali between 2022 and June 2025] later held against us. One day, soldiers came and accused us of being jihadists. They ordered us to leave. Then they bombed jihadist positions in the surrounding area. Shortly after that, it was the jihadists who came to tell us to leave the village. That\u2019s when we left to seek refuge in Mauritania. Today, we have nothing left.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were on the road for 10 days \u2013 it was tough\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
Aminata*, 36, a mother of five, used to live in the S\u00e9gou region. She has been a refugee in Mauritania with her children since May 2025. Her husband has not yet joined them.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\u201cWe can\u2019t even describe everything we\u2019ve been through because it\u2019s beyond words. And there are some things we can\u2019t even remember.<\/p>\n
Before we left, I sold condiments and fish, and business was going well. My husband was old and ill, so he couldn\u2019t work; I was the one who provided for the family.<\/p>\n
The jihadists arrived in our area around 2022. They lived in the bush but used to come to the village. They knew our names, and we knew theirs.<\/p>\n
They told us to stop playing music and using the tam-tam [a traditional drum], and to give zakat. They banned women who did not wear the black veil from entering the village. As soon as I saw a jihadist, I would run to put one on. If they saw us without a veil, they would beat us or beat our husbands. They told us that this was Sharia law, and we accepted it because we had no choice.<\/p>\n
\nMy husband came with a cart and the children, saying we had to leave immediately.<\/p>\n
Aminata*<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\nOne day, they came to take the village chief away. They held him in the bush for three months, then brought him back. They suspected the villagers of having given information to the army. When the army and Wagner came, they searched the houses, looking for weapons\u2026<\/p>\n
Then the jihadists told us that no one was allowed to stay in the village. I was at the market that day. My husband came with a cart and the children, saying we had to leave immediately.<\/p>\n
We were on the road for 10 days \u2013 it was tough. We arrived in a town under siege, surrounded by the army. We couldn\u2019t work, so we begged to survive. The soldiers told us to go to Mauritania, so we left, without my husband, who\u2019s supposed to join us. Along the way, we ran into the jihadists, who also told us to leave and never to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, in our village, there\u2019s no one left but the birds\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
Ahmadou*, originally from the Timbuktu region, lost two family members in the conflict. He has been living in Fassala, Mauritania, since late 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\u201cThere have been incidents since 1991, but what we\u2019ve been through in our region since 2012 is something else entirely. Before, we could stay, endure, and resist, but then, with the armed groups coming out of the bush, it became impossible. We were caught between the rock of the army and the hard place of the jihadists.<\/p>\n
One day in October 2025, eight jihadists arrived. They gave us 24 hours to leave the village; otherwise, they would kill us. The women and children were afraid, and some left the very next day. Fourteen people were killed by the jihadists as they fled. At that point, we hadn\u2019t left yet. But after the massacre, everyone who was still there was terrified and decided to flee.<\/p>\n
We know that it was the GSIM that issued this ultimatum. They presented themselves to us as mujahideen [fighters for the faith, in Arabic]. We moved to another village in the municipality, and then, faced with the ongoing threat, we left the country. Some went on foot, others on donkeys, on horseback, or in carts. We\u2019ve been here for a few months now. Now, in our village, there\u2019s no one left but the birds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<\/div>
A refugee sits outside his tent at M\u2019berra refugee camp, in the Hodh Ech Chargui region of Mauritania. \u00a9 Patrick Meinhardt\/AFP via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u201cWhat had we done to deserve this?\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
Massoud* was a livestock farmer before fleeing Mali several months ago. Today, he still fears for his safety and that of his loved ones.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\u201cOne night in January 2026, two jihadists came and told us to gather on the west side of the village because they had a message for us. Since it was late, we were reluctant. We suggested meeting at the mosque. That\u2019s when one of them made a phone call, and suddenly about 40 motorcycles arrived from all directions with their headlights off.<\/p>\n
They told us that the next day, at the same time, if they found people still there, whatever happened to them would be their own fault. I raised my hand and said I had two questions for them. First, what had we done to deserve this? Second, how did they expect us to move out in just 24 hours?<\/p>\n
\nThere were about 900 of us in our village, and now there\u2019s no one left.<\/p>\n
Massoud*<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\nThat\u2019s when they accused us of being friends of the government. I defended myself against that accusation. The army comes into our village, searches our homes \u2013 there\u2019s nothing we can do about it! We asked them where we were supposed to go. They said, \u2018Go wherever you want in Mali, or even to Mauritania.\u2019 From that day on, people began leaving for another village, nine kilometres away. We stayed there for two months. They came back to threaten us and tell us again to leave within 24 hours. They forbade us from taking our animals.<\/p>\n
We had to rent vehicles and carts to transport our belongings to Mauritania. During the convoys, no one was killed, but some people were beaten by the army. One of the people who was beaten is here with us. He has lost his mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No one dares to stay after an ultimatum. There were about 900 of us in our village, and now there\u2019s no one left. Everything has been abandoned, even the nomadic camps. Now, only God can help us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<\/div>
A Mauritanian flag flies off a pole at the Fassala-Nere border post near the Mauritanian border with Mali. \u00a9 Patrick Meinhardt\/AFP via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u201cEveryone obeys the jihadists\u2019 orders. Who dares to refuse?\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
Khalid*, 26, is from the S\u00e9gou region. He lost a loved one and fled to avoid being forcibly recruited into an armed group.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\u201cI arrived at Ehel Mahal Allouch [Mauritania] recently. The reason I came here is that I was afraid. I was really afraid.<\/p>\n
From 2016 to November 2025, I lived with my older brother, who ran a shop. One day, he set out on a motorcycle taxi to buy merchandise with another shopkeeper who was wanted by Wagner. My brother and this man were intercepted about 20 kilometres from our village\u2026 We went to the place where they took my brother, and that\u2019s where we buried him.<\/p>\n
In April 2026, I left to join my parents. One night there, four armed jihadists came to forcibly recruit young people. We had seen them coming and going before, demanding zakat, but this time they wanted young people to join their ranks. I knew they had already forcibly recruited one person. I decided not to wait for the worst to happen and to flee alone to Mauritania. Everyone obeys the jihadists\u2019 orders. Who dares to refuse? To get here, I took a car, then a motorcycle. I\u2019m going to stay here for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n
*Names have been changed<\/em><\/p>\n\n
Take action<\/h2>\nLearn about rights of refugees and contribute to their protection<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n kabarsula SLOT <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Over the past decade, the conflict in Mali between the armed forces and their allies…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kabarsula"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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