Search Climate Insights Directory

The report details the southward expansion of JNIM into Mali's Kayes and Koulikoro regions, where the group has significantly increased violence and fatalities since 2021. JNIM leverages illicit activities—including zakat taxation, cattle rustling, and the control of timber logging in the Baoulé forest—to fund its operations and gain local influence. The group further exploits social cleavages, such as farmer-herder conflicts and the persistence of hereditary slavery, to recruit members and undermine state authority. While the Malian government and its Wagner partners have made gains elsewhere, security forces in the south are described as overstretched and under-resourced, with varying levels of community trust.