Mali: City under terrorist blockade is supplied in vital goods

The village of Diafarabé has been supplied with vital goods on the 27th of July, after a year under a terrorist blockade. According to RFI, if the news comes as a blessing, the number of vital necessities is small and insufficient to supply the village properly. Thirty canoes were used to transport the goods, an operation that was completely organised by civilians from the region, with the help of the Malian army, particulalry for security. 

Diafarabé is located in the Mopti region, right in the centre of Mali. After a year of blockade organised by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), villagers have declared that “Thank God, the arrival of food supplies has brought relief to the population. Conditions in Diafarabé had become dire. But the quantities delivered are insufficient to meet the population’s needs. It was the villagers themselves, in coordination with the army, who transported the supplies from Macina to Diafarabé. Traders and some residents had also ordered food and other goods, but not everything could be delivered”. 

“Because of strong winds, some pirogues loaded with goods capsized and remained submerged in Macina. Around 30 pirogues managed to return to Diafarabé. Before that, there was nothing left in the town. Everything had run out,” he later added 

Since the temporary collaboration between the JNIM and the second biggest terrorist group, the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), the situation in Mali has been increasingly difficult as the terrorist groups have captured cities and regions such as Kidal. Recent developments such as the siege of the military base of Anefiis in the north, as well as terrorist ambushes, have only worsened the situation for the Malian army and its Russian paramilitary ally Africa Corps. Both terrorists and Malian state-affiliated actors have been accused of war crimes as well as major violations of human rights

RFI, Maghrebi.org