To block or not to block? –

For months, the town of Boni in the Dountsa region has been under a blockade by Katibaselma terrorists affiliated with JNIM. This situation has persisted for almost a year despite the alarm, the escape of several city residents to neighboring communities and even the presence of Malian troops in the area.

On June 3, during the traditional monthly press conference held by DIRPA, Major Souleymane Dembélé stated that the FAMa did not observe the blockade of Boni, and that in this city, the army has its own reality and the people have their own reality. These comments by the head of DIRPA are by no means a denial of the reality on the ground, but highlight the complexity of the situation in the city for several months.

In fact, Katiba Selma militants did blockade Bonnie by blocking the Sévaré-Gao axis, preventing trucks from entering and leaving the town, but they did not directly attack the Malian army. According to information cross-checked with local sources, the blockade of Bonnie was intended as a reprisal against the town’s residents and an indirect means of exerting pressure on JNIM to obtain concessions from the army.

Need to start from “Wagner”

According to local sources, Katiba Selma imposed and maintains the blockade because Russian partners are stationed in the city along with the Malian army. “With the arrival of the Russians, people rejoiced because there was more freedom of movement. For Katiba Selma, the joy that the Russian presence brought to the people turned sour. That’s why they decided to make the city suffer by imposing a blockade,” one of our sources explained.

After discussions with the city’s envoys, the Katiba Selma militants demanded that their Russian partners leave the area as the main condition for lifting the blockade. But not only that. According to our information, they will also demand that the residents of Boni mobilize every time they are captured by the army, fight for the release of their people, and cease all cooperation with FAMa. Conditions that the residents of Boni cannot meet.

“So far, all avenues of negotiation have yielded nothing. As a result, residents are simply trying to leave the city, equally at the risk of encountering IEDs or being arrested and taken hostage,” another source said.

Foreign radicals

According to our sources, in addition to the presence of Russian partners in Boni, which makes the Katiba Selma terrorists uneasy, the organization is also influenced by the positions of some very radical foreign members.

On August 30, 2022, some armed elements agreed to lift the first blockade of the city, which had been in place for months. This lifting of the blockade came into effect after they reached a verbal agreement with the Boni emissaries. Katiba Selma specifically asked residents to stop informing the Malian armed forces, but also allowed its armed elements to enter the city market to obtain supplies without being condemned, and not to interfere in the relationship between them and the Malian army.

The agreement will last for less than a year, and the blockade will be restored from July 2023. “The first actors to accept the lifting of the blockade were young fighters, most of whom were from the local area. But later, they did not understand each other with the rest of the group, mainly foreigners, and they decided to impose the blockade again,” our source revealed.