Mali: navigating Jnim blockades amid hunger, fear, and forced agreements

In Mali, blockades have emerged as a primary weapon in the ongoing conflict, strategically employed by the Jnim. This armed group’s operational approach involves cutting off essential routes, prohibiting access to vital agricultural fields, paralyzing local markets, and imposing stringent social and religious norms. Their objective appears less about direct territorial conquest and more about systematically suffocating communities into submission. Across locations like Marébougou, Saye, and Kori-Maoundé, inhabitants are forced to endure, balancing acts of defiance, practical adjustments, and unwilling compromises in their daily struggle for survival.