(Bloomberg) -- Mali closed down cattle markets across its capital, following a string of deadly attacks by Islamist militants believed to recruit from one ethnic group also linked to the livestock trade.
“This decision comes after the Sept. 17 attacks,” Minister of Livestock and Fisheries Youba Ba, said in Bamako late Friday. The seven livestock markets have been closed down “to preserve public security,” he said.
Unidentified assailants attacked the capital this week, targeting a military training camp and the airport area. It took Mali’s army an hours-long gun battle before thwarting the assault, which caused “losses of life and material damage,” said Army Chief of Staff General Omar Diarra.
Al-Qaeda’s West Africa affiliate JNIM, which has been designated a terrorist group by the US, claimed responsibility for the attack. Affiliates of al-Qaeda and Islamic State operating in Mali are widely believed to be recruiting from members of the ethnic Fulani group.
“There’s a widespread notion that members of this specific ethnic group can be linked to, or are behind, many of the insurgent attacks in Mali,” Bah Traore Legrand, Sahel researcher with WATHI, a Dakar-based think tank, said. “In reality it’s more complex.”
The Fulani people are believed to be the largest semi-nomadic ethnic group in the world with communities stretching from Senegal, southwestern of the Sahara, to the Central African Republic.
Closing the markets is “the government’s way of cutting off contact and drying up a source of intelligence, a place to hide and pass weapons,” Alexis Kalambry, a Bamako-based independent economist said. The move may lead to scarcity and higher prices as the government hasn’t designated another location for cattle trade, he said.
Tuesday’s attack on the capital was the deadliest since 2015 when an al Qaeda-affiliate raided an upscale hotel, taking 170 people hostages and killing 20.
Jihadist Control
Mali has been under military rule since 2020, when interim leader Colonel Assimi Goita ousted the West African nation’s elected president, citing the previous regime’s failure to repel the Islamist insurgents.
Goita, who pledged to retake territory under jihadist control, has struggled to stop attacks linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State — targeting security forces and the population.
In addition to closing down cattle markets, cars parked along highways for long hours will no longer be permitted as they constitute a security risk, authorities said.
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