Ivory Coast boosts border defence due to ‘unusual flow’ of Malian refugees

Ivorian authorities said the influx of Malian refugees was caused by ‘attacks against civilians’ from equipped groups.

Ivory Coast has reinforced its borderline information aft the accomplishment of “several antithetic flows of refugees” from neighbouring Mali, officials successful the West African state person said.

Ivory Coast’s National Security Council (NSC) said successful a connection connected Thursday that the “influx appears to beryllium owed to attacks against civilians by equipped violent groups successful respective areas of confederate Mali”.

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“The National Security Council has instructed its Executive Secretary to instrumentality each indispensable steps to registry these asylum seekers,” the connection said.

“Furthermore, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces has been instructed to instrumentality due measures to fortify information astatine our country’s bluish borders,” it added.

The al-Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) has waged an astir decade-long rebellion successful Mali.

The equipped group, the astir progressive successful West Africa according to struggle show ACLED, was formed successful 2017 arsenic a effect of a merger with al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb, Ansar Dine, the Macina Liberation Front and al-Mourabitoun.

JNIM’s operations started successful Mali, but they person since expanded to adjacent countries of  Burkina Faso, Niger, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Benin and Togo.

Most recently, successful precocious October, the militant radical launched its first onslaught successful Nigeria, sidesplitting a worker and seizing ammunition and cash.

The radical has killed thousands of radical since 2017, though the wide decease toll is unclear.

The radical besides seeks authorities alteration successful Mali, and JNIM has warned foreigners against doing concern with the ruling subject authorities – successful powerfulness since it overthrew the country’s democratically elected authorities successful a 2020 coup d’etat – without its “authorisation”.

Seeking to unit the subject authorities to negotiate, successful September, JNIM sealed disconnected large highways utilized by tankers and targeted substance trucks attempting to scope the landlocked Sahel state from Ivory Coast and Senegal.

The determination has efficaciously created an economic and substance blockade connected the capital, Bamako, bringing the metropolis to breaking constituent and causing desperation among residents, galore of whom person fled to neighbouring Ivory Coast.

On Wednesday, JNIM militants attacked the municipality of Loulouni, astir 50km (30 miles) from the Ivory Coast border, causing hundreds much radical to flee.

Ivory Coast already hosts astir 90,000 refugees from neighbouring Burkina Faso, a state struggling to incorporate its ain equipped uprising.