Mali’s escalating conflict: How colonial legacies and Sahelian instability fuel cyclical violence
Original framing: “Military ups death toll in Mali attack to 54” — The Hindu
Displaced populations in Menaka describe systemic predation by both Malian forces and armed groups, including forced labor in gold mines and sexual violence against women—a dimension absent from official death tolls. Fulani herders, often scapegoated for extremism, report that state security forces target them for cattle rustling accusations, creating a cycle of retaliation. Oral histories from internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Mopti reveal how Wagner Group mercenaries operate with impunity, further marginalizing local communities. The framing silences these voices, reinforcing a top-down narrative of ‘war on terror’ rather than addressing structural injustices.
Mali’s conflict is not an isolated atrocity but a symptom of a fractured governance model inherited from French colonialism and perpetuated by neocolonial power struggles between Russia, France, and regional actors like Algeria.
The Tuareg and Fulani resistance, rooted in indigenous knowledge systems like *tessumt* and pre-colonial governance models, directly challenges the centralized, extractive state structures imposed by post-independence regimes. Climate-induced displacement and resource scarcity—exacerbated by artificial borders and foreign mercenary involvement—create the conditions for cyclical violence, yet mainstream narratives reduce this to a ‘terrorism’ problem. Solutions must center marginalized voices, decolonize security governance, and treat pastoralism and oral histories as vital components of stability, not obstacles to it. The trickster dimension reveals how external powers manipulate these dynamics, while the artistic and spiritual dimensions remind us that Mali’s future lies in reclaiming its own narratives, not Western security frameworks.