Mauritania condemns “repeated attacks” in Mali

Amid rising tensions at the Mauritania-Mali border, Mauritania has urged its citizens not to travel to Mali over safety concerns, according to RFI and agencies on March 24th.

In a March 23rd statement, Mauritania’s Ministry of the Interior expressed its “condemnation and rejection of the repeated attacks against the lives and property of [its] citizens in Mali.”

Similarly, the ministry issued an order “prohibiting grazing on Malian territory” for Mauritanian livestock herders.

This statement came after two Mauritanian herders were killed near the border in Mali’s western Kayes region on March 20th, with Malian forces (FAMA) confirming the execution of two shepherds by an “armed force.”

In recent weeks, FAMA and Russian mercenaries have been accused of executing several people in the border region.

On February 26th, seven people were killed when FAMA arrested five Mauritanian-Malian nationals and two traders near the border of Mauritania and Senegal.

Similarly, seven people were killed by FAMA and Russian forces on March 6th as they travelled from the Mauritanian border post of Fassala to Mali.

The victims were Malian refugees from the Fulani community, which faces persecution throughout the Sahel over alleged Islamist ties.

Fassala has been the site of escalating tensions, with FAMA and Russian auxiliary forces storming a village in April 2025 in pursuit of Tuareg separatists.

At least eight people were executed by FAMA on March 13th in Kayes, following mass arrests of 34 members of the Fulani community.

Border tensions worsened after FAMA soldiers held hostage in Mauritania were released on March 15th, with Bamako initially claiming they escaped following a military operation.

However, subsequent reporting found that the soldiers were released after ransom was paid to their jihadist captors.

The presence of Islamist militants at the border has likely exacerbated tensions between the countries.

On March 9th, around 10 people were killed when jihadists attacked a FAMA and Russian Africa Corps convoy in the Segou region, located near the Mauritanian border

Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM).

JNIM is behind the fuel blockade that Mali has experienced since September 2025, where militants exploited Mali’s landlocked status and reliance on fuel imports to bring the country to a standstill.

The purpose of the fuel blockade is to destabilise the military junta government, which JNIM hopes will bring about the establishment of an Islamic State in Africa.

RFI and agencies, Maghrebi.org