Al Qaeda-linked insurgents urge Malians to rise against junta, adopt Sharia law

Al Qaeda-linked insurgents in Mali have called on citizens to rise up against the country’s military-led government and transition to Sharia law, in a rare French-language statement issued days after coordinated attacks across the country, British media reports.

Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) launched assaults on April 25 in coordination with the Tuareg-dominated rebel group the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), hitting bases throughout Mali and near the capital Bamako, seizing the town of Kidal and killing the defence minister.

“We call upon all sincere patriots, without ⁠exception, to rise up and unite,” the group said in a statement issued late on Thursday (April 30) and confirmed by the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group.

JNIM, which usually issues written statements in Arabic, wrote in French, the official language in Mali for government and business.

It called for political parties, soldiers, religious authorities, traditional leaders and “all ⁠segments of Malian society” to end the “dictatorship” of the government, which it described as a “terrorist junta.”

Mali’s military leaders seized power in back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021.

JNIM has over the past year been on a drive for legitimacy through coercion and strategic engagement with local populations, and has sought to characterise the government as illegitimate.

“Overthrowing the junta is not enough. We must, together, prevent ⁠any chaotic vacuum ⁠that would plunge ⁠our nation into total collapse,” the statement said.

It called for a “peaceful, responsible, and inclusive transition” and for the establishment of Sharia law.

JNIM, which threatened a total blockade on Bamako following the attacks, has established checkpoints on several major arteries leading to the city including from the north and south, three sources said on May 1.

Mali’s military leader Assimi Goita said in a televised address on Tuesday that the situation was under control, and vowed to “neutralise” the insurgent groups behind the attacks.

By Aghakazim Guliyev