Ivory Coast is tightening security along its northern border after recording what it called an “unusual flow” of refugees escaping fresh attacks on civilians in neighbouring Mali, the government said on Thursday.
In a statement following a National Security Council meeting, authorities said military commanders had been instructed to reinforce security measures and register incoming asylum seekers. The rise in refugee arrivals is “reportedly due to attacks on civilians by Armed Terrorist Groups in several localities in southern Mali,” the statement added, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
The government did not specify which groups were behind the violence, but Mali has been battling al Qaeda-linked militants for more than a decade. One of the most active factions, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), has expanded operations in western and southern Mali this year and in September announced a fuel blockade that caused long queues at petrol stations in the capital Bamako and forced temporary school closures.
The group’s growing reach has raised concerns abroad about its ambitions, though Mali’s foreign minister this week dismissed suggestions that jihadists could soon seize the capital.
More than ten years of insurgency in the Sahel region have displaced millions, strained state authority and damaged local economies, prompting Ivory Coast and other West African coastal states to deepen investments in border security to prevent militant spillover.