MALI Northern Takeover Internally Displaces at Least 118,000 People
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1 October 2012 MALI Northern takeover internally displaces at least 118,000 people Few could have predicted that Mali, long considered a beacon of democ- racy in West Africa, would in less than a year see half its territory overrun by Islamic militants and a tenth of its northern population internally dis- placed. Instability and insecurity result- ing from clashes between government forces and Tuareg separatists and pro- liferation of armed groups in northern Mali in the wake of a coup d’état have combined with a Sahel-wide food crisis to force some 393,000 Malians from their homes since January 2012, some 118,800 of whom are estimated to be Malians who fled the unrest in the northeastern city of Gao wait at a bus internally displaced. station in Bamako to return to Gao, September 2012. REUTERS/Adama Diarra Some 35,300 people are displaced across Mali’s vast three northern regions, living in town with host fami- lies or out in the open in makeshift shelters. Most of the 83,400 IDPs who have taken refuge in the south are staying with host families. Both IDPs and host families face severe shortages of food, access to health care and basic necessities. Many IDPs have lost their sources of livelihoods and children’s education has been severely jeopardised. The nascent government of national unity, which took power in August 2012 after prolonged instability, has taken some steps to respond to health, nutrition and education needs but serious concerns remain for the vast majority of the displaced who still lack access to basic services. State functions have virtually ceased in conflict-affected regions and civil servants have fled, further limiting capacity to meet the needs of the vulnerable. The displaced have urgent needs which are not being met due to widespread insecu- rity, lack of sufficient humanitarian access and grossly insufficient funding. www.internal-displacement.org MALI MALI National capital ALGERIA Regional capital Town, village Taoudenni Poste Maurice Cortier Major airport International boundary Regional boundary Main road Bordj Mokhtar Other road MA URITANIA Track Railroad Timéiaouîne Ti-n-Zaouâtene 0 100 200 300 km Tessalit In Guezaam sî m le Aguelhok i 0 100 200 mi T Assamakka u TOMBOUCTOU d KID AL e é l l Tidjikdja a V Kidal E djéri ak Aleg Tombouctou ou Bourem za Lac A Rosso Faguibine (Timbuktu) GA O l' Kiffa 'Ayoûn el 'Atroûs e Néma Râs el Mâ Gourma- d r e e é Kaédi ig Rharous l N l Goundam a Gao V Léré Niafunké Ménaka S Lac e Niangay n Ansongo Andéramboukane eg Sélibabi Tinabao al Nara Nampala Aourou Nioro Douentza Tahoua du Sahel Nayé MOPTI Kayes Mourdiah Mopti Oullam NIGER SENEGAL Diéma Bandiagara Birnin Madaoua Niono Djibo Dori Tillabéri Konni Tambacounda KAYES KOULIKORO Djenné lé Tera bu SEGOU Bafoulabé Ba Ouahigouya Niamey ani Ségou B N San Dosso Sokoto Kita Kaya i Lac de Koulikoro Tougan Bogandé g B e Manantali a k r o g y Kati B URKIN A F ASO Birnin Kebbi n Bamako i e Koundara f CAPITAL ir Dédougou Gummi a Koutiala o OuaV gadougou Balaki B r DISTRICT é Diapaga e l N o u Koudougou l ig a t Fada- o t a Kamba Gaoual é l N a B o o Kombissiri N'gourma B l g V a Siguiri L. de a n Tenkodogo Labé Dinguiraye Bougouni B Bobo- c Koko Sélingué Sikasso h Tinkisso SIKASSO Dioulasso Pô e GUINEA Diébougou Léo NIGERIA Yanfolila Kolondiéba V o T BENIN The boundaries and names shown and the designations l t Navrongo Kontagora used on this map do not imply official endorsement or Banfora a O Kainji N Djougou acceptance by the United Nations. G Reservoir Kankan o i Gaoua r GHAN A O Wawa CÔTE D'IVOIRE e Map No. 4231 UNITED NATIONS Department of Peacekeeping Operations October 2004 Cartographic Section Source: UN Cartographic Section (with some cities added by IDMC) More maps are available at www.internal-displacement.org/countries/mali/maps Mali: Northern takeover internally displaces at least 118,000 people Background in turn, formed a new government of national unity in August. Considered a beacon of democracy in West Africa less than a year ago, Mali has plunged into a series Mali’s political and security situation is set against of entrenched political, security and humanitarian a backdrop of a large-scale food crisis affecting crises in the space of a few months. Since January millions across the Sahel. The UN Office for the 2012 and the onset of a new Tuareg rebellion, Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) the fourth since 1960, Mali has seen roughly half estmates that 4.6 million Malians (out of some its territory (three of eight regions, populated 15 million people) are affected by the crisis, with by some 1.6 million people) overrun by Tuareg some 175,000 children at risk of severe acute separatists and Islamist militants and its elected malnutrition (OCHA, 29 August 2012). Hunger is government overthrown by a military coup. exacerbated by ongoing insecurity which has led to sharp price increases and suspension of regular The Tuareg are a Berber people with a tradition- commercial food deliveries to Islamist-controlled ally pastoral lifestyle who live across the Saharan northern areas. interior of West Africa. Although they have held key posts in national administrations, their leaders (in Mali and elsewhere) have often complained Causes of displacement of being marginalised by national governments. In recent years the weak presence of the Malian Internal displacement has occurred intermittently army in the vast northern desert has permitted in Mali during periods of severe drought and po- extensive armed banditry and drug trafficking, litical conflicts, notably previous Tuareg rebellions. including by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Prior to Malian independence in 1960, the Tuareg (AQIM). AQIM has succeeded in establishing sev- started seeking greater autonomy, recognition eral bases in Mali as well as in the broader Sahel of their language and culture and economic (The Jamestown Foundation, 28 October 2010). development (Minority Rights Group, 2007). They staged a series of insurgencies against the Malian The demise of the Qadhafi regime in Libya in government: in 1962-1963, between 1990 and 2011 sparked the return of heavily armed Tuareg 1996 and between 2007 and 2009. fighters, who trickled back into Mali in early 2012 intent on establishing an autonomous region. The 2012 Tuareg rebellion and subsequent They quickly overran several towns, displacing coup d’Etat thousands of people. They soon received backing On 17 January 2012, Tuareg rebels of the from Islamist groups said to have close links with Mouvement National de Libération de l’Azawad AQIM. In late March, mutinous Malian soldiers, (MNLA), a separatist group formed in October dissatisfied with the government’s handling of 2011 and bolstered by the influx of fighters return- the rebellion, forced Malian president Amadou ing from Libya, launched an offensive against the Toumani Touré to step down. Amid the ensuing Malian army to secure independence of the north security vacuum, Salafist groups outflanked the (The Daily Telegraph, 19 January 2012). Fighting Tuareg, secured control of the three northern re- affected all of northern Mali, including the towns gions, imposed a hard-line interpretation of sharia of Ménaka, Tessalit, Aguelhok, Tinzaouaten, Léré and provoked international outrage by desecrat- and Niafunké. Within three weeks at least 30,000 ing historic mosques and tombs of importance people were displaced (ICRC, 8 February 2012). to Sufis. In mid-April, the military junta handed Civilians primarily fled the clashes between gov- control to an interim civilian government, which, ernment forces and Tuareg combatants as well 1 October 2012 3 Mali: Northern takeover internally displaces at least 118,000 people as the violence and retaliation by army troops control of several northern towns and imposing (UNHCR, 23 February 2012). By mid-March, some hard-line Islamic law. Their conflicting goals (the 93,433 people had been displaced within Mali’s MNLA seeks a state of Azawad while Ansar Dine borders and some 99,000 people had sought aspires to Islamise the current state of Mali) led refuge in neighbouring states, primarily Algeria, to abandonment of a planned merger. Further Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger (OCHA, 15 displacement resulted when armed clashes took March 2012). Most cited violence by armed place in Gao on June 27 between MNLA combat- groups, the fear of sharia law and shortages of ants and those of the Movement for Oneness available and affordable food as reasons for flight. and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), an offshoot of AQIM with aspirations to Islamise all of West On 22 March, disgruntled members of the Africa. The MNLA lost control of Gao, its transi- Malian military formed a Comité National pour le tional capital, and removed its fighters from the redressement de la Démocratie et la Restauration outskirts of Timbuktu, Ménaka and Kidal (Jeune de l’Etat (CNDRE). They launched a coup d’état in Afrique, 4 July 2012). By 12 July, the MNLA had Bamako and ousted President Amadou Toumani been entirely evicted from northern Mali and Touré, who had been scheduled to step down af- they later dropped their claim for independence, ter presidential elections on 29 April. The CNDRE, leaving the Islamists in full control of the region led by Captain Amadou Sanogo, justified their (LeMonde.fr, 12 July 2012). putsch by deploring the government’s handling of the northern rebellion and inability to counter In parallel, a new unity government headed by the MNLA (BBC, 22 March 2012). Under pressure President Dioncounda Traoré and Prime Minister from the international community, particularly Cheick Modibo Diarra was created in August with the Economic Community of West African States the priority of taking over north.