Insecurity, the Breakdown of Social Trust, and Armed Actor Governance in Central and Northern Mali : A Stabilizing Mali Project Preliminary Report

Titelangaben

Sandor, Adam:
Insecurity, the Breakdown of Social Trust, and Armed Actor Governance in Central and Northern Mali : A Stabilizing Mali Project Preliminary Report.
Montréal , 2017

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Abstract

This report analyses dynamics of insecurity and the corresponding governance efforts practiced by non - state armed groups operating in Central and Northern Mali since the signing of the Accord for Peace and Reconciliation in Mali (hereafter ‘Accord’) on 15 May and 20 June 2015. The conflict in Mali has evolved significantly since the French military intervention of January 2013, and United Nations Security Council authorization of the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) of April that year. The repo rt analys es three interwoven trajectories that currently define the conflict. First, conflict zones in Mali are marked by a lack of control over large swathes of territory, the emergence of quotidian armed violence, banditry, and a generalized environment of insecurity that results in the breakdown of social trust amongst Malian communities. Second, in the aftermath of the French intervention, Mali is witnessing the partial dispersion, ephemeralization, and reconstitution of armed Islamist groups operating in Mali’s central and northern borderlands (notably the intensification of armed violence in the centre regions of the country - Mopti an d some northern areas of Ségou) who are acting in the void of governance where the Malian central state in theory shoul d be reintroduced . Third, in response to these previous dynamics and as they compete over the stakes of the peace process, several armed group signatories of the Accord are fragmenting and reconfiguring towards tribal bases of affiliation, and into new tac tical postures and alliances. These dynamics add to the conflict’s complexity and increase the likelihood of its regionalization.