Following the double attack in Bamako, Fulani fear being stigmatised

They will not leave their homes until the searches carried out by the Malian security forces are completed. The instruction, given by Fulani leaders to members of this community living in Bamako, highlights their fear of increasing stigmatisation for alleged links with jihadists following the double attack by the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM, linked to Al Qaeda) which, according to Malian and Western security sources, left more than 70 dead and 255 wounded on Tuesday 17 September.

A few hours after the two attacks launched against the Faladié gendarmerie school and the airport, south-east of Bamako, General Oumar Diarra, Chief of Staff of the armed forces, launched an appeal to citizens to“avoid mergers.” “The aim of these terrorists is to put us back to back and try to stigmatize people.” he warned, announcing that the search for possible accomplices was continuing. This double attack in the heart of the capital, unprecedented in its scale, shocked the population of Bamako. It also contradicts the official discourse of a jihadist threat contained by the junta, which its leader, Colonel Assimi Goïta, has been declaiming since coming to power in August 2020.

On Tuesday morning, as gunfire between Malian soldiers and jihadists echoed in the south of the capital, calls were launched to lynch members of the Fulani community, according to several local sources.

“We must burn it!”, “A man exclaimed in a video posted on social media on Tuesday. Behind him, outside the Africa Tower, near the gendarmerie school, we could see the corpse of a man finishing burning, buried under the rubble thrown by the small crowd that surrounded him. The individual belonged, according to reliable sources, to the Fulani community. If suspected bandits are sometimes set on fire in the country, this practice tends to take a communal turn as violence has escalated in recent years.

“Witch hunt”

In central Mali, many Fulani have joined the ranks of the GSIM, led in the area by Fulani jihadist leader Amadou Koufa. The fact that one of the perpetrators of the double attack in Bamako, nicknamed “Abdelsalam Al-Fulani Al-Ansari”, belongs to this same community has increased the stigma.

To avoid excesses in the vicinity of the site of the attacks, officials at the displaced persons centres located nearby – where most of the Fulani who fled the violence in the centre of the country are located – ordered not to leave them before the search operations are completed. security forces. Inside, “People are afraid of being attacked,” “One of them says, adding that for the moment there is calm in these camps.

Outside, many people, including many Fulani, have been arrested since the attacks. All seven cattle markets on the outskirts of the capital, run by Fulani herdsmen, have been closed. THURSDAY “for reasons of public order”indicates a circular from the governor consulted by The world.

“What will become of these cattle farmers whose only means of subsistence are being taken away? They are being pressured to leave the capital. It is a sign of a form of witch hunt.” a representative of the community complains. He regrets that the call to fight against mergers launched by the head of the cabinet has not been followed. “Let it not be a surprise that these destitute Fulani later join terrorist groups!” he storms.

Stamps by The worldMembers of the Tuareg community, who have also been victims of the turmoil – especially since the resumption of clashes in the north of the country between the army and predominantly Tuareg rebel groups in the summer of 2023 – also said they had been instructed to stay at home until the situation calmed down in the capital. On Wednesday, a Tuareg member of the national guard, who was in civilian clothes at the time of the events, was killed in Bamako in circumstances that remain unclear.