Addis Ababa – UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Wednesday that the worsening security situation in Africa’s Sahel region was driving a humanitarian emergency.
Guterres said the situation in Mali had “seriously deteriorated” since late April following an intense wave of attacks by armed groups against the ruling junta.
The coordinated attacks by the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) and Tuareg separatists from the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) rocked the government.
The April 25 and 26 offensive targeted strategic towns and killed the country’s influential defence minister.
“The deteriorating security situation has created a humanitarian emergency marked by growing violence against civilians, widespread displacement and growing food insecurity,” Guterres told reporters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, where he co-chaired an African Union–United Nations conference.
The UN chief said the situation in the junta-led country had declined following an “operational alliance” between the jihadist group and the FLA.
Mali, a former French colony, is one of three west African countries — alongside Burkina Faso and Niger — that have expelled French troops and formed their own confederation, the Alliance of Sahel States.
All three are led by juntas who seized power in coups between 2020 and 2023.
Since April 30, jihadists have blocked several key routes leading into Mali’s capital, Bamako, which, like the rest of the landlocked nation, relies heavily on road imports.
Several dozen people have been killed in jihadist attacks in central Mali in May.
Guterres called for dialogue and collaboration among countries in the region to address “violent extremism and terrorism”.
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Source: AFP
