By: Zagazola Makama
The Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), an Al-Qaeda affiliate, has held a rare and strategic meeting in central Mali, signaling a major shift in its operations with urban centers and national capitals of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) now in its crosshairs.
Zagazola Makama has obtained a video which emerged in the aftermath of the meeting, which took place on Eid day south of Nampala, near Mopti and just over 300km from Bamako, brought together JNIM’s top commanders.
Present were senior figures including Iyad Ag Ghali, Amadou Koufa, Talha al-Libi, Ag Hitta, Abou Hamza al-Chinqiti, and Mahmoud Barry all from various ethnic and national backgrounds.
The gathering, held in broad daylight and open terrain, underlines the group’s confidence and growing territorial grip. Mahmoud Barry, deputy to Amadou Koufa of the Macina Katiba, delivered a key address at the meeting.
He denounced the killing of civilians and aerial strikes he attributed to “Turkish drones” used by Malian authorities. Speaking directly to urban populations, Barry accused AES governments of failing to provide basic necessities like water, food, and electricity.
“They have handed your wealth to the Russians,” he said, urging residents of towns and cities to support the group.
He ended with the phrase: “The time for work has come.” In jihadist terminology, “the work” refers to the launch of an offensive phase a shift from rural dominance to attacking political centers.
Barry explicitly named Niamey and Ouagadougou, indicating the group’s intention to escalate operations towards the capitals of Niger and Burkina Faso.
A few days after the gathering, Jafar Dicko, JNIM’s emir in Burkina Faso, echoed the same rhetoric following the group’s attack on Diapaga, further confirming the regional scope of this renewed strategy.
Security analysts say the coordination of messaging across different JNIM factions demonstrates a unified and well-planned regional agenda, with a clear focus on destabilizing national seats of power.
The AES comprising Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger now faces an elevated threat level as jihadist operations extend beyond rural insurgencies to direct challenges against state institutions and urban populations.
