Increase in ISIS Presence in Mali Reported by United Nations Experts

Monday August 28, 2023

In recent years, Mali has experienced multiple coups, raising concerns about its stability. According to United Nations experts, ISIS militants have significantly expanded their control over Mali’s territory, almost doubling their areas of influence in less than a year. The expert panel, in a report shared by the Associated Press, highlighted the group’s control over rural regions in eastern Menaka and large parts of the Ansongo area in northern Gao.

The report also noted that these ISIS attacks have undermined trust in the signatories of a 2015 peace agreement, as they are seen as weak and unreliable in providing security for the targeted communities. Taking advantage of the delay in implementing the agreement, both ISIS and Al Qaeda-affiliated groups have intensified their attacks and seek to establish an Islamist state in northern Mali, similar to what happened in 2012.

The UN report further revealed that the Al Qaeda affiliate, Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), has positioned itself as the sole force capable of protecting the population against ISIS in the Greater Sahara. Mali, which has faced several coups in recent times, has expressed support for the military junta that seized power in neighboring Niger last month.

However, the instability in the region poses a serious risk to counterterrorism efforts in the Sahel area of Africa. Both France and the US, who have troops stationed in Niger, have suspended their counterterror operations following the coup. Additionally, Mali’s leaders have warned the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) against a military intervention in Niger, as it would be perceived as a declaration of war against Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea.

With the decline of ISIS’ presence in the Middle East, the group has gained momentum in Africa. Experts have previously cautioned about its emergence in Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and now in Mali. In June, Mali’s junta ordered the departure of the UN peacekeeping force and its international troops, who have been working for a decade to combat the extremist insurgency.

The UN mission, Minusma, played a vital role in facilitating peace talks and monitoring the peace agreement’s violations. However, the armed groups that signed the 2015 agreement have expressed concerns that the deal could collapse without UN mediation, leaving the northern regions vulnerable to another uprising.

Furthermore, the report accused Russia’s Wagner Group of involvement in persistent sexual violence in central and eastern parts of Mali. The panel raised alarm over the use of violence against women and other grave abuses of human rights and international humanitarian law by foreign security partners, which aim to spread terror among the population. In response to these allegations, the US sanctioned Malian officials, including the Minister of Defence, for their alleged ties to the Wagner Group, whom they also blame for engineering Minusma’s departure from Mali.