Islamist militants still severely impact large swathes of Burkina Faso and Mali, imposing roadblocks, launching attacks and cutting off supply lines as they expand their decade-long presence, according to residents’ testimonies.
Several towns in central and northern Burkina Faso are currently under blockade by jihadists and army supply lines are regularly targeted.
The town of Arbinda has been isolated for several months.
“Arbinda is experiencing a food crisis. People are suffering from a lack of food and basic necessities,” one resident told AFP by telephone, insisting, like others, on speaking anonymously for security reasons.
“The town has not received supplies for more than six months. We just want to eat,” another resident said.
Burkina Faso and Mali have struggled with violence from jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State for a decade.
Both countries have been run by military governments since coups carried out between 2020 and 2022.
But analysts say the military rulers have mostly failed to meet their promises of defeating the jihadists and making their countries safer, as data shows violence in the region is worsening.
In Solhan, further east in Burkina, residents expressed similar worries to those in Arbinda.
“People are hungry. The last scheduled food convoy was ambushed, worsening the situation for an already exhausted population,” said one resident.
“We can’t farm or do anything outside the town. Even carts used to fetch firewood are seized. We are calling out for help just to survive,” said a resident in Bourzanga, another town.
The Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims known by its Arabic acronym JNIM, affiliated with Al-Qaeda, is the most influential group in both countries and the “most significant threat in the Sahel”, according to the UN.
Its victims, both civilian and military, number in the thousands.
About four million people are now displaced across Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and neighbouring countries — around two-thirds more than five years ago — reflecting the insecurity, limited access to services and effects of climate change, the UN said this month.
In Mali, the JNIM has stepped up its attacks since September in western and southern parts of the country by imposing a blockade on petroleum products, causing a fuel shortage that is worsening the already precarious situation for millions of people.
– ‘Deserted the town’ –
“For two weeks, we’ve been running out of fuel. Our fields have started to dry up from a lack of fuel for pumps,” a resident of San, in central Mali, said.
“Today, truckers no longer come because the jihadists have cut off the roads. Our produce is rotting or drying up at the edge of our fields. How can we pay our debts?” said a producer and member of the Regional Assembly of Chambers of Agriculture in Sikasso, in southern Mali.
In the central Malian town of Macina, the jihadists’ presence is also making the presence of the state disappear.
“We have no birth certificates, no official marriage certificates. The jihadists said they didn’t want any symbols of the state, so the civil registrars and administrators have deserted the town,” said a local nurse.
Military authorities who rarely report any causalities among their ranks regularly claim victories in their anti-jihadist fight.
But residents under jihadist blockade have little faith.
“We’re told the army is gaining strength. But if terrorists are still capable of occupying a town like Gomboro for days, in an important military region, then things are really not going as they say,” said a resident of Gomboro town in northwestern Burkina Faso.
Niger, a neighbour and ally of Mali and Burkina Faso and also ruled by a military junta, faces deadly jihadist attacks from Boko Haram, as well as from the groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
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