Islamist republic fears as rebels make inroads

Political instability and fuel shortages caused by a jihadist rebel group is driving Mali to the brink of becoming an Islamist republic, reports The Guardian. The al-Qaida-linked jihadist group Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) is gradually converging on Mali’s capital, Bamako, with increasing attacks in recent weeks, including on army-backed convoys. Armed groups of JNIM fighters have blocked key routes used by fuel tankers, disrupting supply lines to the capital Bamako and other regions across Mali. Should the city fall, the west African country would be on its way to becoming an Islamist republic with strict interpretations of sharia law. In areas under its control, JNIM is already enforcing dress codes and punishments via courts that, as Human Rights Watch noted in a 2024 report, did not adhere to fair trial standards. On Tuesday the US state department issued its second advisory in a week to its citizens in Mali, urging all US citizens to ‘depart immediately using commercial aviation’. On Wednesday, Australia, Germany and Italy also urged their citizens to leave as soon as possible. Observers within and outside Mali say things could escalate faster and that the US’ warnings are the latest indication that the country is on the brink of a third successful coup in five years and the sixth since independence from France in September 1960. Mali is grappling with a two-week fuel scarcity due to blockades targeting trucks from neighbouring Ivory Coast, Mauritania and Senegal, by JNIM. Landlocked Mali relies mostly on imports to keep its stuttering economy running. In the absence of the fuel trucks, life has come to a standstill in most of Bamako.

Full report in The Guardian

Meanwhile, a court in Mali has jailed former Prime Minister Moussa Mara for one year over a social media post in which he expressed solidarity with political prisoners in the military-ruled country, reports Al Jazeera. Mara, who led the country’s government for eight months from 2014 to 2015, was sentenced by the National Cybercrime Centre Court in the capital, Bamako, on Monday for ‘undermining the credibility of the state and opposing legitimate authority’. In addition to the one-year prison term without parole, Mara was given a 12-month suspended sentence and a fine of 500 000 CFA francs ($887). The 50-year-old has been in prison since 1 August, weeks after naming in a social media post several political prisoners he had visited and declaring ‘unwavering solidarity with prisoners of conscience’. After Monday’s verdict, Mara’s legal team said it had filed an appeal against what they called a ‘particularly harsh decision’. Amnesty International called Mara’s sentencing a 'travesty of justice’ and called on Mali’s military government to stop ‘escalating repression of peaceful dissent and authoritarian practices, and immediately release those currently being detained solely for voicing their opinion’.

Full Al Jazeera report