By Merritt Frey, Executive Director

Our supporters who follow international news may have heard some disturbing updates out of Mali over the last week or so. I wanted to provide a snapshot of the situation, and assure you that our students and staff are currently safe.

Mali’s current leadership is made up of members of a military junta. The military junta (which took over in 2 coups over the last 18 months) cancelled elections scheduled for late February 2022. These elections had been planned in order to return Mali to democracy after the military takeover. After some outside pressure, the military government announced they would reschedule the elections for FIVE YEARS in the future.

This greatly upset the international community who pressured the junta to shorten that time period. Last weekend, the military junta said they would agree to host elections in FOUR YEARS. This did not satisfy the international community. The regional body of West Africa (known as ECOWAS) has applied sanctions to pressure the junta – including closing the land borders to ECOWAS member states and applying financial penalties. Unfortunately, these sanctions will also serve to punish the Malian people, who rely on free travel and trade for much of the nation’s commerce.

In retaliation, the military junta has closed the borders and recalled several of their ambassadors. Many airlines have cancelled flights in and out – including Air France. You can read more here (for example): https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/01/10/mali-west-africa-sanctions/. The military government has also called for Malians in Bamako to head into the streets on Friday, January 14, to protest the ECOWAS sanctions.

This is all worrisome. Yet for now I want to reassure you that Mali Rising's partners and students are safe. Our staff report things are calm in the capitol of Bamako today, although the staff will work from home on Friday out of an abundance of caution.

Critically, schools are functioning during this time. Our students appear to be safe in their more rural settings, and our programming will continue as long as it is safe for both our students and our staff.