A total Regional Lockdown of
frontiers and trade routes has successfully stopped all trade not just in the
huge Sahara proper, but also in the thousand-mile-wide belt called the Sahel
immediately to the South where innumerable others are also at immense risk.
The direct result of the sudden
lockdown has been the triggering of immense and growing hunger, a growth in
widespread abuse of fundamental human rights, and a huge Jihadist upsurge of
activity.
While the whole world is now
fighting tooth and nail to limit the spread of the deadly Coronavirus and to
prevent countless premature deaths, conceivably to be numbered in the millions,
the consequence of that one widespread type of action has been to suddenly stop
dead a vital network of trading activities in and around large parts of the
Western Great Sahara. Appalling hunger looms over large tracts of territory and
this is happening in the midst of a huge Jihadist upsurge so that these
separate overlapping crises together spell terrible extra trouble for different
population groups and States. The risks
go far beyond the already globally catastrophic social and economic effects of
the Great Pandemic which normally operates 'on its own' so to speak, as if that
wasn't enough!
On the 13th of April, 2020, the
Algerian authorities declared their national border with Mali to be closed and
that all movement in and out of Algeria was suspended until further
notice. Niger followed suit that day,
and similar restrictions were quickly imposed by Burkina Faso, Mauritania and
other states around the region. The
immediate consequence of that total shutdown was that the whole Western Sahara
and Sahel region a truly vast area, came to a total standstill. Much may be largely inaccessible but all is
totally dependent on trade and the free flow of goods. The stoppage remains to this day. Food
shortages and the imminence of famine have now become central topics of
ordinary conversation for all the innumerable widely scattered inhabitants. "The Great Sahara" region previously
depended on food supplies coming out of Algeria. All the countries involved
have suspended normal free movement. There is most impact in the northern parts
of Mali and Niger where, although some indigenous Tuareg nomads are now
settled, most are still nomadic, being accompanied in their travels by various
livestock.
The lockdown on free movement has
impacted badly not only on cross-border trade but on other types of movement;
with one major exception, however.
Criminal gangs and terrorist groups are now ever more active and
thriving, particularly flourishing in the vicinity of Tellabere, Inaker and
Menka. Last week, according to eye
witness reports, the fundamentalist Islamic State in the Greater Sahara started
to allure ever more young people into their ranks. The group goes back to 2015 and is led by Abu
Walid al-Sahraoui.
One of the organization's
recruiting agents has recently been seen near Menaka and Inaker, Mali. He was distributing both food and hard cash
to some of the very poor families that are suffering the most. This same agent
is one of the organisation's most active local leaders. According to one local source, he has managed
to recruit at least 35 young men in his
area. Another
member of the same terrorist organisation appears to have a similar assignment
and recruiting mission in the Tellabere region, close to a small village near
the border of Western Niger, where it adjoins neighboring Mali. Security sources in that area also suggest
that the expansion of recruitment by terrorist groups is targeted mainly at
young people from poor families.
Activity is thought to have increased tenfold since April 13, when many
countries in the Sahel region closed their national borders. The Coronavirus now threatens at least three
million Africans according to the W.H.O.
The worst consequences of the
current pandemic also now include numerous serious violations of human rights
as stated earlier, alongside the hunger or starvation that is putting the lives
of thousands on the line. Incidentally,
a recent OXFAM report warned that at least 50 million people are now threatened
by impending famine in West Africa.
The Coronavirus has come on top of actual armed conflict
that was already present arising from serious pre-existing tensions and
insecurity. It is particularly common in
places like Northern Mali where some of the Tuareg have long been fighting the
government of Mali in pursuit of the desired independent state to be called
Azawad.
The increasingly fragile
food-market situation in the region exacerbates things amidst all the tension,
instability and conflict which is both between various armed groups and the
very weak government of Mali in Bamako. Further South atrocities have also been
taking place against the Tuareg and Fulani people. In the last couple of weeks more than 36 Tuareg
have been killed by the Nigerian Army.
That was at Ayarou and Tera areas.
One of the victims by the name of Abdulaye was only 27 years old when
murdered by Nigerian Army soldiers near Tellabere. The victim, a Fulani herder
was tied up and shot dead, along with his animals, before military tanks ran
over the bodies. The Nigerian government has only commented on these stories
with a bald assertion that its army has killed a number of terrorists in the
area.
That dismissive Nigerian Army
version of the truth has subsequently been refuted both by local civilians and
by Human Rights bodies including the Imouhagh International Organization for
Justice and Transparency. The latter is
a well-informed organisation concerned with the whole region. They have now published a letter demanding a
thorough investigation by the Nigerien Government, followed by impartial
justice for the families of innocent victims. One victim in a different but
adjacent post-colonial state was Attyoub Ag Allou, 40 years old, and the father
of six children. He is someone totally
dependent on UNHCR support for survival and was living at Mentao Refugee Camp
in the province of Djibo, Burkina Faso.
This man was arrested, before being tied up in front of members of his
family and severely beaten. Fortunately,
he survived to tell the tale and managed to escape from a place where he was
being held, a few days later. A second victim from the same refugee camp of
Mentao was less fortunate however. He was a 60-year old blind man, hired by the
camp residents to look after their animals.
He is alleged to have been arbitrarily killed inside the camp, right in
front of his family.
In conclusion, we can only say that
the need to write this troubling story arose when it became clear once we were
in possession of the above facts that anyone with some power and ability to
act, has a duty to do share the information. We should all try to re-focus
public attention, however briefly at this time of universal self-centered
distractions, on the much worse plight of the people in the places mentioned
above. We must ask our leaders to try to
reduce the likely scale of the impending disaster.
By: Akli Sh’kka, filmmaker,
journalist and human rights activist
