Attack In Mali Threatens International Assistance

At least forty people were killed last Wednesday morning in Northern Mali from a car bomb attack at a military base. A vehicle holding explosives detonated at a camp where there were both soldiers and members of rival armed groups in the region’s main city, Gao. The bombers forced their way into the camp shortly after nine in the morning, running over several people before blowing the car up, just as six hundred soldiers were assembling. The death toll is still uncertain, although it has been reported that forty-two people were killed and more than were one hundred injured. The soldiers and armed groups at this camp conduct joint patrols in line with a UN-brokered peace accord, which aims at quelling violence in Mali’s north. The attack marks a significant setback in the efforts to achieve peace in the conflict-ridden area.

Immediately after the attack, there was speculation that an extremist Islamist group was responsible. An Islamist group based in Northern Africa, known as Al Mourabitoun, which has links to al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack. The attack was described by the group as punishment for Mali’s cooperation with France. Since 2013, Mali has had international support in order to ensure that widespread conflict does not break out in the country. France sent troops at the request of Mali to prevent an advance by armed groups on the capital Bamako. In 2015, a peace agreement was finally reached between the government and the secular armed groups. The town of Gao became incredibly secure with multiple checkpoints made up of UN, French, and Malian soldiers. Yet, there has been an increasing amount of attacks in the country, mainly from fighters with links to al-Qaeda and ISIL.

As a result of these recent attacks, the UN Security Council has agreed to set up sanctions to punish those who threaten the 2015 peace deal. Members of the Council have reportedly condemned the attack and see it as a direct threat to the established peace deal. Human Rights Watch has argued that the attack is very bad news for Mali and the support that it has received from the international community after the collapse of 2012. HRW has criticized the growing presence of armed groups in northern Mali, especially their involvement in the executions of government informers. They have also criticized abuses by peacekeepers, whose primary purpose is civilian protection. France has been particularly vocal about the attack and the Interior Minister described the car bomb as a major and highly symbolic attack. The area where the attack occurred was visited by the French President Francis Hollande only a few days earlier.

Since the attack, a local doctor has reported that all other activities at the local hospital have ceased to deal with the dozens of wounded victims. The fatality rate is reported to still be rising. President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has declared that there will be a three-day mourning period for the victims. There is hope that the international community will be able to react to this attack in a way that will ensure that extremist Islamist groups will not continue to gain support in the region.

Bohdi Dun
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