Ivory Coast is reinforcing security along its northern frontier after reporting an “unusual” spike in refugee arrivals, which authorities believe is linked to attacks on civilians by armed groups in neighbouring Mali, where a jihadist insurgency is grinding into its second decade.
The National Security Council instructed military chiefs to bolster the security presence in the border area following a meeting on Thursday, the government said in a statement.
The surge in people crossing into Ivory Coast is “reportedly due to attacks on civilians by Armed Terrorist Groups in several localities in southern Mali,” the statement said, adding that Ivorian authorities have begun registering newly arrived asylum seekers.
The government did not name which armed factions were responsible for the latest violence.
Mali, a landlocked Sahel nation, is battling al Qaeda-aligned militants who in September declared a fuel blockade that triggered long queues at petrol stations in the capital Bamako and temporarily shut schools.
The show of strength by Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) has deepened international concern that the group could seek to extend its control over larger parts of the country. JNIM has widened its footprint in western Mali while pushing further south towards the Ivorian border.
Mali’s foreign minister this week rejected as unrealistic suggestions that jihadist forces could soon threaten or seize Bamako.
More than a decade of overlapping conflicts and insurgencies across the Sahel has displaced millions of people and hit local economies hard, prompting Ivory Coast and other coastal West African states to invest heavily in shoring up their northern borders and trying to keep militant violence from spilling south.