Name: Thousands flee Mali as JNIM blockade triggers new wave of displacement
Uploaded: 2025-12-02T14:38:23.396Z
Duration: 2 min 27 s
Description: Over the past two weeks, thousands of Malians have escaped westward toward the Mauritanian border as an al Qaeda-linked JNIM blockade continues to cut off entire communities.

Over the past two weeks, thousands of Malians have escaped westward toward the Mauritanian border as an al Qaeda-linked JNIM blockade continues to cut off entire communities.

Bamako

Thousands of Malian families have fled their homes in the north following a blockade and evacuation order by the al-Qaeda-linked group JNIM. Many refugees report being forced to leave with little notice, traveling for days with minimal supplies and facing harsh conditions upon arrival in makeshift settlements near the Mauritanian border.

The influx of displaced people has overwhelmed local resources, with aid organizations struggling to provide basic necessities such as water, food, and shelter. The crisis has been exacerbated by ongoing violence involving Malian forces, Russian allies, and JNIM, leading many to state they will not return due to the scale and brutality of the conflict.

Thousands flee Mali as JNIM blockade triggers new wave of displacement

Thirsty, exhausted, but alive, Malian families finally reach safety after days crossing the Sahel. Once an empty desert, now a makeshift village. These women from the northern village of Leray say al-Qaeda-backed JNM gave them 72 hours to flee or be treated as the enemy, a tactic that has driven hundreds like this woman to neighbouring Mauritania. We were forced to leave without taking anything, travelling only on carts. We've been here for two weeks now, living without food, exposed to the sun, without children, without clothes or blankets, even though the cold season is beginning. Several of our children are ill and we lack everything. Families say the group enforced blockades on food and supplies, part of JNM's wider siege that has deepened Mali's crisis and fuelled clashes with the army and its Russian allies, Afrika Korps. Dozens of refugees say their joint operations intensified after JNM's order to evacuate, bringing drone strikes and assaults on villages. This man's brother was killed in a Wagner raid last year. When fighters returned just a few weeks ago, he ran for his life. We don't know why they kill us, but when they came, we ran into the forest. JNM are there, but they only pass through. Malian forces and Wagner are more evil and we are more scared of them. Despite the UN's Mbara camp an hour away, most settle in the border area or nearby villages. Red Crescent staff say new arrivals are straining already limited resources, especially water, as worsening violence slows their escape to safety. It's a very critical situation because the people arriving here are completely disoriented. They've lost everything and left everything behind. When they get here, they need at least a minimum level of comfort, shelter, something to sleep on, something to eat. But at the moment, we simply don't have all that to offer them. For many here in Dwankhara, it's the second or even the third time they've fled since 2012. But they say that the scale and the brutality of the violence this time means they won't go back.

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