In Mali, the situation is very tense in the circle of Niono, in the region of Ségou, in the center of the country. While the jihadists have been besieging the village of Farabougou for almost a month, it is other localities in this circle that have experienced worrying incidents in recent hours. Tensions between communities that have caused deaths.
The Imam of N’Débougou was killed last night, Monday 2 November. A few hours earlier, a grocery store representative for the imam had also been assassinated in Toridagako, according to an elected official from the area. Several officials from the Niono Circle, contacted by RFI, were able to confirm these murders, the circumstances of which remain unclear.
But these killings gave rise to strong tensions, traditional Dozo hunters and Fulani communities blamed themselves for them “without tangible evidence”, said another elected representative of the area. These localities are only about sixty kilometers away Farabougou village, surrounded for almost a month by jihadists. It is difficult to say whether a direct link should be established between these events.
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Attempts at mediation
This Tuesday, the morning of November 3, the weekly market for Dogofry, very close to Farabougou, could not be held. Dozo hunters are said to have brought Fulani amusement crews down from their vehicles. According to several sources, there would have been deaths, but there is no final cross-check report.
Jihadists who claim to be such (without expressing their membership of a particular group) have banned all land access to Farabougou for almost a month despite the arrival at the village of Malian soldiers there is a ten days by helicopter.
Local notables involved in an attempt at mediation explain that the jihadists have both ideological claims – such as the application of sharia law – and societal demands, following mutual accusations of murder and cattle rattling between the Bambara people and Dozo hunters on the one hand and Fulani inhabitants on the other.
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