Mahamat Saleh Annadif, representative of the UN Mission in Mali (Minusma), met on Tuesday in Mopti (center) with representatives of civil society from the region. If for them there are efforts to make societies exist peacefully, their concerns are many.
With our special correspondent in Mopti, Serge Daniel
During the meeting with the leaders of the various communities, young people, women from the Mopti region as well as religious, first confirmed that they were all united with the same goal: to work for the establishment of a lasting peace.
Violence against women, grain deficits, closed schools …
But there are still problems. For example, violence against – especially – underage girls. “We are receiving more and more victims of violence as well as girl mothers and a 13-year-old girl who is a mother,” Marie-Louise Sylla tells us about the ‘Local Association for Women’s Rights. We continue to receive women who are whipped when they want to go out into the bush to gather wood for cooking … ”
Uncertainty also causes a significant grain deficit in the region, emphasizes another member of civil society in Mopti: “No agricultural activities were carried out in many villages.” He fears there is a chronic food shortage in the region.
For Amadou Ndiaye from the youth association, the concern is the schools closed due to the crisis: “There are about 600 and some schools closed in the Mopti region. There are thousands of people who can be recruited very quickly ”.
The effective disarmament of many self-defense movements is also considered a priority here.
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