THERE are reports from Mali that at least 100 civilians are being held by suspected insurgents after being kidnapped last week.
Local residents told the AFP news agency that they were travelling in three buses when the attackers forced them to drive in the direction of a forest between Bandiagara and Bankass.
Six days on, there has been no sign of the dozens of hostages.
This area of Mali’s Mopti region has seen frequent attacks by insurgents.
Following several recent attacks in the area, people are getting increasingly frustrated.
Civil society organisations in Bandiagara have been staging protests denouncing the fact that many people have been displaced and calling for a military camp to be set up to protect the local communities.
Following a coup in 2021, Mali’s military rulers ordered thousands of international troops to pull out leaving the country even more fragile.
Insurgents attacks began in northern Mali more than a decade ago and have spread to the centre of the country as well as neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.
This prompted military coups in all three nations.
