Mali: the distress of the inhabitants of the Ménaka region
ISGS attacks in the Ménaka region left more than 15,000 internally displaced in Mali, more than 8,000 on the Niger side of the border, according to UN figures (illustration image) Wikimedia Commons / Animali
Text by: David Baché
2 mins
The inhabitants of the Ménaka region are in distress.
The Sahelian branch of the Islamic State group, the EIGS, has been on the offensive since early March in this part of northeastern Mali, on the border with Niger.
Last week was peppered with new attacks.
Several hundred dead, several thousand displaced.
But in Bamako, the transitional authorities remain silent.
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The ISGS attacks in the Ménaka region have left more than 15,000 internally displaced people in Mali, more than 8,000 on the Niger side of the border, according to UN figures, which count at least 264 civilians killed, in less than three month.
An undervalued figure, according to Sidi Barka, president of civil society in Ménaka.
“
According to the displaced people we received in Ménaka, it must be more.
Really there have been too many deaths, too many animal losses too.
Really, it's a disaster.
The populations have left the places where the killings took place.
They left Tamalat, Anderamboukane, Inekar, Emis-Emis… All these areas remained empty.
Now I don't know who occupies them.
»
The Sahelian branch of the Islamic State group is trying to take control of new territories and establish a permanent foothold in this part of northeastern Mali.
Faced with the jihadists, two local armed groups that signed the 2015 peace agreement, the MSA and the Gatia, are trying to defend the populations.
As for the Malian transitional authorities, many question their inaction and their silence.
Not even a press release since the beginning of the massacres.
The president of civil society in Ménaka calls for help.
“
It is an urgent appeal to the authorities of Bamako, to the international community, to the Minusma which is in Mali,
insists Sidi Barka.
A distress call for everyone to help the Ménaka region.
We've lost land, we've lost men, we've lost property, and it's only getting worse: the longer it takes, the more areas we lose and it's the population that will suffer.
»
The head of Minusma El-Ghassim Wane went to Ménaka yesterday to assess humanitarian needs.
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