Conflict in Mali: A survivor’s story

Citizens of Konna are now returning to their homes, but not without vivid memories of fleeing for their lives.

 

By Maura Hart, Senior Press Officer | Oxfam America

 

 

January 10, 2013: it’s a day that Nanaï Touré*, and other residents of Konna, Mali, will never forget.

Konna is a small city near the border between northern and southern Mali, the main dividing line of the current conflict. The city was home to about 41,000 people, mostly farmers, herders, fishermen, and traders. When armed rebel groups from the north arrived in January, followed closely by the French airstrikes that were targeting them, 90 percent of the population fled the city within a day, joining hundreds of thousands of displaced Malians.

 

Nanaï Touré imitates how she covered her head when the armed
groups arrived in Konna on January 10.
 Photo: Habibatou Gologo/Oxfam
.

“I live in the third district of Konna near the fishing port, which was partially destroyed by an airstrike,” said Touré. “When the armed groups came  to Konna on January 10, like other inhabitants of Konna I fled by pirogue [a small, flat-bottomed boat] to the surrounding village of Diantakaye because a projectile fell on the roof of my hut.

I have three children. I grabbed the youngest to flee and had water up to my shoulders. I asked people to help my husband who is disabled. I didn’t know where my other two children were. But a week after the military intervention, we found each other again at home.”

A few weeks later, Konna’s central city market has reopened and citizens are now returning to their homes, but not without vivid memories, like Touré’s, of fleeing for their lives.

Oxfam is helping displaced people in Mali as well as refugees in Mauritania, Burkina Faso, and Niger with food, water and sanitation services, health and hygiene kits, as well as classroom construction and gender sensitization training in some areas.

 

*Not her real name

Originally posted in Oxfam America’s First Person Blog.

For more go to http://www.oxfamamerica.org/

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Mali: ICRC visits detainees

By ICRC

The ICRC has been able to visit people detained in central Mali in connection with the conflict, in order to monitor their treatment and conditions of detention. At the same time, the organization is helping people who have returned to their homes in central Mali, after having fled the recent fighting.

Mopti sub-delegation Head Philippe Mbonyingingo explains.

 

International Medical Corps Conducts Emergency Assessment in the Town of Konna to Identify Critical Needs of Conflict-Affected Malians

By International Medical Corps

 

International Medical Corps has conducted the first rapid, multi-sectoral humanitarian assessment in the town of Konna, Mali – where a rebel takeover triggered French military airstrikes that have caused massive civilian displacement throughout the country. International Medical Corps’ Emergency Team assessed Konna's health, nutrition, water supply, sanitation and hygiene services, along with other urgent needs.

International Medical Corps’ team was allowed only four hours in Konna, which is currently under control of the Malian army. The team met with community leaders to assess the town’s current humanitarian situation and discuss its residents’ most urgent needs. All sectors of the community participated, including the mayor, women’s groups, local health associations and youth groups. International Medical Corps also visited homes in several parts of the town to see firsthand the household-level impact of the conflict.