Tag Archives: mali

Mali: Caritas office destroyed by fighting

The fighting has forced 200,000 people from their homes

We are sorry to report that a local office of our sister agency Caritas Mali has been destroyed by fighting in northern Mali. The following article first appeared on the Caritas Internationalis website:

Caritas Mali says its local office in Gao in northern Mali was destroyed along with the local church after Tuareg rebels seized the city at the weekend.

Despite the conflict in the north and a coup last month, Caritas Mali says its operations providing desperately needed food aid to the rest of the country continue.

The Tuareg rebels have seized three regional capitals in as many days. The main rebel group is the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA). They are operating alongside the Islamist group Ansar Edine, who have links to Al Qaeda’s north African branch.

Fr Jean-Jacques, director of Caritas Gao said, “Caritas staff fled Gao on Saturday. We learned from our guard today that the centre and the church compound have been destroyed.

“We have received calls from the small Catholic community left in Gao. They are now in hiding, fearing for their lives.” Continue reading

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The Libyan aftermath: Mali and Niger in crisis

Refugees from Mali: “the fighting in Mali today is a direction consequence of what happened in Libya,” says CAFOD partner Raymond Yoro

When the UK and other countries decided to protect the Libyan rebels and assist their revolution a year ago, the Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary and other leaders promised that the lessons of Iraq would be learned; and that plans would be in place to deal with the aftermath.

Those promises are ringing hollow in Mali and Niger today.

It was shocking to learn that the President of Mali, Amadou Toumani Touré, had been ousted in a military coup. After all, for twenty years, Mali has been recognised as one of the more successful democracies in Africa.

The soldiers who carried out the coup say that they did so because of Touré’s handling of the Tuareg rebellion in the north of the country – a rebellion that many in Africa, including the ousted President, attribute to the impact of the Libyan revolution. Continue reading

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Filed under CAFOD, Mali, Niger