Islamist militants in Mali have begun blockading Timbuktu by cutting off road access in August and then closing off river and air routes in an attack that has put the city on the frontline of a jihadist insurgency once more.
On September 21, witnesses revealed seeing rockets hitting a hospital and killing two children in the process.
It had also landed near a school where survivors of a passenger boat attack killing over 100 people who were sheltering themselves there.
Since the United Nations began retreating from its peacekeeping mission in July, al Qaeda affiliated militants have begun an offensive in central Mali, while conflict resumed between the army and Tuareg rebels from the north. The east meanwhile, was not left in this turmoil as the Islamic State-allied insurgents have continued to carry out their attacks in the region.
Mali, run by a junta that has spurned the support of U.N. and French forces, is in meltdown and the violence risks adding to instability across West Africa’s Sahel, a region already reeling from military coups in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.
Mali’s military rulers, who secured power over two coups in 2020 and 2021, had severed ties with former colonial nation, France, sending out its 13,000 strong troops from the country.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Wagner Group, has sent 1,000 mercenaries to support the junta, but they have failed to fill the gap and has been accused of attacks against civilians.
Over 650 people have died from the conflict in Mali within the two months since the U.N. began pulling out of the country.
This is a 40% increase according to a U.S.-based group Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.
The junta had meanwhile in a statement on Monday, October 2 stated that September had been a tempestuous month but it would not cease in its fight to protect the nation and its people from the enemies.
