{"id":5299,"date":"2018-11-22T12:45:22","date_gmt":"2018-11-22T12:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/?p=5299"},"modified":"2018-11-22T12:45:24","modified_gmt":"2018-11-22T12:45:24","slug":"settling-local-disputes-is-key-to-peace-in-central-mali","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/settling-local-disputes-is-key-to-peace-in-central-mali\/","title":{"rendered":"Settling local disputes is key to peace in central Mali"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Restoring state authority isn\u2019t enough to stabilise the region \u2013 local grievances and rights must be attended to.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 15 October, 11 civilians were killed by assailants\non a motorcycle in Telly in Central Mali\u2019s Mopti region. This attack occurred\nbarely two days after Prime Minister Soumeylou Boub\u00e8ye Ma\u00efga visited the\ndistrict to affirm the return of the\u00a0state<\/a>\u00a0to this\nregion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growing insecurity since 2012 had led to the\nwithdrawal of some state agents (such as local administrators and judges) from\nthe area. Instability increased, with community-based militias \u2013 including for\nexample traditional Dogon and Bambara hunters \u2013\u00a0emerging<\/a>\u00a0in\nself-defence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2016, more than 12\u00a0000 people have been\ndisplaced, 287 civilians killed and 67 kidnapped, and 685 schools closed in\nCentral Mali, especially the Mopti region. The upsurge of inter-community\nconflicts between the Fulani herders and the Dogon and Bambara farmers,\nintra-community conflicts among the Fulani, and attacks by violent extremist\ngroups have all contributed to the rising instability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dynamics of the conflict in this region are\nmultidimensional, rooted in successive droughts and state-promoted development\npolicies. Structural factors linked to the disruption of agriculture, livestock\nfarming and fishing following drought in the 1970s and 1980s destabilised\nproduction systems, the bedrock of socio-economic relations between the\ndifferent communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than securing Central Mali, military operations\nhave led to conflict with the local population<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most conflicts are concentrated in the central delta\nof the Niger River, in districts such as Djenn\u00e9, Mopti, Tenenkou and Youwarou,\nand the Dogon Plateau where agro-pastoral resources are central to the economy.\nThe pressure on arable land, due to the combination of climatic factors and the\nemphasis on state-supported agriculture backed by Mali\u2019s international\u00a0partners<\/a>, has affected\nFulani pastoralists, making access to land a source of tension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conflicts between Delta herders and Dogon Plateau\nfarmers revolve around, among other things, the occupation of cattle trails by\nfarmers and disagreements over agricultural and transhumance calendars \u2013 that\nis, the seasonal movement of livestock for grazing. In 2012, hunters claiming\nto belong to the Dogon community\u00a0killed<\/a>\u00a0over 20\nFula people, burnt 350 hamlets and carried away livestock following a conflict\nover an animal corridor between Koro and the Burkina Faso border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of these conflicts had previously been settled\nthrough community-based mechanisms, including traditional authorities. These\nmechanisms are now strained following tensions between communities and\ntraditional authorities such as Dioros (pasture managers), whom they accuse of\npaying state authorities to win disputes. The conflicts are also becoming more\ncomplex, exploited by both militias and violent extremist groups.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When extremist groups\u00a0occupied<\/a>\u00a0the\nnorthern part of the Mopti region in 2012, arms became more accessible to\nwarring communities, and violence in the region increased. Violent extremists\nexploit communities\u2019 dissatisfaction with state actors such as judges,\ngendarmes and water and forestry agents, whom communities accuse of corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Violent extremists exploit community discontent with\njudges, gendarmes and water and forestry agents<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attempts to\u00a0ease<\/a>\u00a0tensions\nbetween the Central Mali communities date back to 2016. The government\u2019s\nMission to Support National Reconciliation,\u00a0established<\/a>\u00a0in April 2017, has travelled to the Dogon areas and some areas of the\nCentral Delta to meet with the communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mediation by non-governmental organisations, some\nmandated by the government, led to a unilateral ceasefire\u00a0agreement<\/a>in early July 2018 \u2013 but this wasn\u2019t endorsed by the Dogon militia, Dana\nAmassagou, which is also fractured. As a result the conflict between the Dogon\nand Fulani militia has continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 28 August 2018, 34 traditional leaders of Fulani\nand Dogon villages signed an inter-community peace\u00a0accord<\/a>\u00a0in S\u00e9var\u00e9\nto end the conflict between them. The mediation has however failed to take root\nbecause of intensifying violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agreement highlights many of the pitfalls of the\nvarious peace processes in Mali in recent years. First, it shows the problem of\nthe inability of signatories, in this case village chiefs, to influence the\npeace process on the ground. Second, while the process gained support in Dana\nAmassagou when its military commander Youssouf Toloba, and the Dogon cultural\nassociation Ginna Dogon, got on board, it doesn\u2019t include the predominantly\nFulani militias.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dispute resolution mechanisms are strained due to\ntensions between communities and traditional leaders<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, the Fulani cultural association Tabital Pulaaku\nhas denounced the agreement. They believe Toloba and his accomplices should be\ntried at the International Criminal Court. The government seeks to integrate\nsome militias through a disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration process\nthat doesn\u2019t leave much room for victims to pursue justice and reconciliation.\nThis disagreement is hampering the peace process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peace in Mali requires a shift from the current narrow\napproach of state dialogues with willing armed groups to a broader and more\ninclusive national dialogue. This would lay the foundation for agreement on\ncommon principles for a new social contract between the state and society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current debates on the return of state authority must\ninclude the type of state that the people of Mali can relate to and accept \u2013\nwhich would no doubt be one that shows more respect for their rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boubacar Sangar\u00e9, Junior Fellow, ISS Bamako<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was first published on the website of the <\/strong>Institute for security studies (ISS)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Restoring state authority isn\u2019t enough to stabilise the region \u2013 local grievances and rights must be attended to. On 15 October, 11 civilians were killed by assailants on a motorcycle in Telly in Central Mali\u2019s Mopti region. This attack occurred barely two days after Prime Minister Soumeylou Boub\u00e8ye Ma\u00efga visited the district to affirm the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-opinions"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5299"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5301,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5299\/revisions\/5301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sahelien.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}