A CIRCLE OF VIOLENCE

Since 2015, central Mali has been caught up in an outbreak of violence that spreads day by day. The rise of a jihadist preacher Amadou Koufa, who hails from the nomadic Fulani herding community, also known as the Peul, has inflamed centuries-old tensions between herders and farmers. Koufa has largely recruited among his own people, and the wider Fulani community became tarred because of their attacks. Other ethnic groups, notably the traditional Dogon hunters and the Bambara, formed so- called self-defence forces. One of these groups, a pro-Dogon militia called Dan Nan Ambassagou, has been accused by NGOs and the UN of carrying out massacres in Fulani villages, an allegation it denies. The Malian army has also been accused by NGOs of occasionally collaborating with the Dan Nan Ambassagou against the Jihadists. Nearly 200.000 people have fled violence in central Mali. The stories collected in this series aim to go beyond the polarisation of a conflict and to represent the complex dynamics of tensions that are often summarily stigmatised with an ethnic label. All the people portrayed have, voluntarily or not, experienced the horror chapter of the region, finding themselves caught up in a conflict that has changed their lives, forcing them to flee and living in anonymity. Everyone represents a different facet of the conflict.

MAHRĪ

In the south-east of Mauritania, along the border with neighbouring Mali, a cliff called Dahr acts as a geographical barrier in a desert area. Here a few narrow roads allow the passage of the cliff, becoming crucial crossroads to be monitored in order to limit the spread of jihadist extremism, which is strongly present on the other side of the border. A unit called Mehariste, part of the National guard, acts to control the movements along the border. With their camels, one of the most resilient animal in those environments, they are able to reach isolated communities that would otherwise be inaccessible. Thanks to their proximity to local populations they represent an important source of intelligence, contributing to provide informations on an “invisible” border of this desert zone. Meharists play a key role by responding to the basic needs such as the construction of wells, important crossing points in the desert, and providing free primary health care consulting.

CURE SALÉE

For most of the time, the tiny oasis town of Ingall has a population of just a few hundred. But once a year north Niger’s traditional gateway to the Sahara, known for its salt flats, is the gathering point for the Cure Salee festival of Tuareg and Wodaabe pastoralists. For three days, the semi-arid patch edging the Sahara desert blooms with a riot of colours – red, orange, blue, fuschia – as thousands of nomadic herders don their best dress for a festival celebrating their culture. The festival marks the end of the rainy season, when herders bring their animals to graze from up to 400 kilometres away, converging on three springs of water rich in mineral salts that give the gathering its name: Cure Salee (Salt Cure). -- and where they meet old friends, exchange news and reinforce cultural ties and traditions. The camels race is a highlight of the three-day nomad festival. Dozens of pick-ups are strategically parked to give spectators standing on their roofs the best view. Others have brought their camels, around two metres at the shoulder, to gain a little height. Everyone waits under the sun rising in a blue sky, betting on the 25 animals in the race. The camels soon arrive and are placed behind a green rope stretched across the starting line. The jockeys are young for the lighter they are, the faster the beasts will go.

Text: Amaury Hauchard - Photos: Michele Cattani

THE INNER DELTA

Ecological issues are threatening livelihoods in central Mali, even as inhabitants have to contend with jihadists and armed groups. A vast area roughly the size of Switzerland, the inner Niger delta is a complex ecosystem comprising lakes and floodplains, which support hundreds and thousands of fishermen, farmers and herders.

"When the grass is there, it's for the pastoralists; when the water is there, for the Bozos; when the land is there, for the farmers,"

Overfishing has depleted stocks, and the Sahara desert is also encroaching on the green floodplains.

WHEN THE RIVER BREAKS

Situated in the heart of the Sahel region, Niger is one of the countries most affected by the climate crisis. Temperatures in the Sahel are increasing 1.5 times faster than anywhere else in the world, and the number of floods almost doubled between 2015 and 2020. These effects exacerbate the situation in a country where almost 4 million people need urgent humanitarian assistance.

“When the River Breaks” is a series that tells the stories of people affected by floods in Niger. It describes the uniqueness of each person’s situation and challenges, but also their strength and potential, and their universal aspiration for security, love and solidarity.

A narrative built between imaginary and real, alternating photos and representations drawn on the emergency tents to give back life its own daily dimension.

Realised and edited with Charlotte Cans for UNOCHA

©UNOCHA/Michele Cattani

SAN SABA

At the age of 43, Aboubacar Traore is trying once again to kickstart his life after three failed attempts at migration. Poor and adrift, the stonemason and former imam is back in his native Mali. In his latest migration attempt in 2017, Traore had been working in Algeria. But police caught him in a sweep in late 2019 and dumped him on the Niger border. He remained in the capital Niamey for several months before the UN's International Organisation for Migration (IOM) returned him to Bamako. The agency placed him in a centre filled with other failed migrants. Most were young men in their early twenties and keen to try their chances again, desperate to escape the clutches of poverty in the Sahel. Traore, too, knew that misery lay in wait for him if he returned home. But, for him, there would be no further attempt at Eldorado, he judges himself to old to try again. The expectation of seeing his loved ones again is blurred by the feeling of failure and the need to explain why he returned. “Three years is not three days” repeats Aboubacar while he travels back to his village. "Once you come back, you feel guilty, you're still the one who used to send the money and who doesn't send it any more," says Amadou Coulibaly of the Association of Expelled Malians.

©AFP Photo/Michele Cattani - Text: Amaury Hauchard, Michele Cattani

THE WEIGHT OF A SWALLOW

Close to the holy spot of Soutadounou, on the Niger River, the leader Sufi Adama Yalcouye founded one of the most famous Sufi community in Bamako, that he led until his death in 2016.
His adherents are required to behave in a morally upright manner and in the respect and tollerance of all religions. In this sense, many symbols from other faiths and traditions, like the Christian cross, the animist symbol of Kanaga and the Malian flag are commonly used by this community.

According to the tradition, during the battle of Khaybar some jinns (spirits) helped the Prophet Mohamed. One of them decided to come to Mali and he settled here in Soutadounou. It was Sama-Roussi who no longer lives, but his children Alhariou Kariou Khahilou, still lives in Soutadounou.

©AFP Photo/Michele Cattani

A NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK

It was the heart of the forest and there, in a marsh, lay a carpet of water lilies, their delicacy unveiled in the dawn light. But the beauty belied the danger -- the Tofa Gala forest, on Mali's lawless border with Burkina Faso, was a haven for ruthless jihadists. Guns in hand, French troops advanced on one side of the marsh, and their counterparts from Burkina Faso on the other. Their goal: Assert control over an area where no troops had set foot for over a year. Named Bourgou IV, the mission was the first official joint ground operation between the French army and the so-called G5 Sahel force, which pools troops from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. In an exercise earlier this month, some 1,400 soldiers, 600 of them French, were deployed in the volatile region.

Cat and mouse - A French officer explained the rationale behind the search missions. A Burkinabe officer said the French security measures and loud convoys offer the jihadists time to escape. "It's normal that the French never find anything when they arrive," he saids.

FALADIÉ

It only took a few hours on April 28th 2020 for the hundreds of tents to disappear in a cloud of ash. In the south of Bamako, a vast land used for the storage of municipal waste has been receiving thousands of displaced persons from the centre of the country for more than two years, fleeing from violence and war. It is mostly Fulani, a nomadic ethnic group of shepherds. A vortex of violence among ethnic communities in the region in parallel to an unprecedented expansion of a jihadist group led by a Fulani has captured the entire ethnic group, which has been repeatedly accused of being an accomplice or member of jihadist groups. Victims of stigmatization, arrests, summary executions and increasingly frequent attacks, pastors, their wives, their families had no choice but to leave so as not to die in a war that did not concern them. Despite extreme health conditions, the Faladié landfill continues to welcome families arriving from the centre of Mali. That day, while a group of inhabitants burned some tires to recover the iron wires, the wind blew louder than normal, towards the tents and towards the herds. Authorities have promised new housing, but once the dust has settled and the sky has turned blue again, nothing has changed. In a few days all the tents were built with the available materials. Children resumed playing on the garbage, livestock were brought back and life got back to the everyday routine. Once again.

MADE OF COTTON

Cotton growing is one of the Mali's main source of wealth. The sector as a whole supports four million people, or a quarter of the population.

After Burkina Faso declined the production a cause of genetically modified crops, Mali became the first Africa’s cotton producer with a crop that in 2018/2019 has reached a record-production of 750,000 tonnes.

Despite the large production the country will only transform a tiny part of it into yarn or clothing. The construction of a real textile industry that the authorities have wanted for decades has never been achieved.

As a state monopoly, the vast majority of the cotton crop is processed in the Chinese-Malian owned Comatex factory of Segou.

The rest is still spun and woven according to traditional techniques in the villages.

PECHEURS DE SABLE

A building boom in Mali's capital Bamako, has boosted the demand for bricks made from high-quality sand dug manually from the bed of the Niger River. Diggers can travel more than 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Bamako to reach an extraction site, sometimes exposed to harsh weather conditions that endanger their fragile crafts.

Once there, sand collectors dive down to the river bed to fill up buckets.

The job carries many dangers, from the treacherous currents of the river to powerful storms.

A boat can carry up to 10 tonnes of sand, which is sold for around 50,000 CFA (around $80). .

Women unload the sand after the boats return to Bamako they earn less than $2 per shipment.

The industry is illegal and the number of extraction sites is decreasing due to the intense exploitation, which has an important effect on the river's depth and its ecosystem.

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APNEA

Interactive and immersive media artwork about migrants and the sea

Apnea explores the dimension of the emotions of migrants who venture out to cross the sea.

Apnea proposes an inner itinerary that we can all recognise: a cartography of feelings and fears mapped using interactive immersive technologies and an exhibition of objects that were salvaged from the sea.

Apnea ’s audio-visual contents were realized in Lampedusa.

Concept: Vanessa V - Artwork Design: Stefano Sburlati e Vanessa Vozzo - Photos Michele Cattani

more info about the project and the next exhibition:

http://www.officinesintetiche.it/?portfolio=apnea