The town of Ménéka has been welcoming a massive influx of displaced people for several days. They number in the thousands and have been arriving every day since the beginning of last week from the town of Anderamboucane, in the north-east of Mali, on the border with Niger. Families are fleeing violence from the Islamic State in the Sahel, which controls the area, and bombings by the Malian army.
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They have been arriving by the truckload since last Tuesday. Mostly women and children. According to the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees), more than 2,500 people have already joined Ménaka. Others, several hundred, would have chosen to cross the Nigerien border towards Chinagodar and Abala. “ Destitute, without shelter, food or water, these displaced people need protection and are awaiting humanitarian aid. », warns the UNHCR representative in Mali, Mohamed Askia Touré.
All these displaced people come from Anderamboucane. In March last year, the jihadists of the Islamic State in the Sahel (EIS) launched a vast offensive throughout the Ménaka region, which left more than a thousand dead, according to local community sources, in course of terrible massacres. Anderamboucane, sacked, had been emptied of its inhabitants and had become a ghost village. Then, gradually, families tried to resume their lives there, under the control of the EIS jihadists.
But for several weeks, the Malian and Nigerien armies have been carrying out anti-terrorist operations, including air strikes, on both sides of the border. This was confirmed to RFI by several local civilian and security sources.
The displaced people, who suffered for more than a year under the yoke of the jihadists, arrive in Ménaka having once again lost everything. They are taken care of by the MSA (Movement for the Salvation of Azawad), a local armed group allied to the Malian state, and by the national gendarmerie. Who strive to identify and “ filter ” The new comers. Because their immense distress does not exclude suspicions that jihadists are mingling with them to enter Ménaka.