In Mauritania, Malian refugees hope to return home

In the Mauritanian town of Fassala, on the Malian border, many refugees dream of the day they will return to their motherland.

Years of instability in Mali have forced thousands to flee to neighboring Mauritania which has so far been spared much of the Islamist violence plaguing Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.

"Only those who put an end to the killing among us will allow the farmer, the shepherd and the traveller to no longer die. You [Wagner Group and FAMA], you know that you are looking for armed people. You come across me, when I have neither a weapon nor a military radio, and you kill me. Why? What proof do you have? Did you come to kill civilians or armed men?," wondered Ilanbozi (name changed to protect identity), a Malian refugee.

Some 300,000 Malians have sought refuge in Mauritania's Hodh Chargui region since a security crisis began in 2012, fuelled by violence from jihadists, local criminal gangs and pro-independence groups.

About 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the border, Mauritania's Mbera camp now hosts some 120,000 refugees who have fled the violence.

Along one of the camp's sandy paths Ahmed said he "hopes for the return of peace and to go back to [his] country."

The 35-year-old said he wants a toppling of the military government "which has brought on all the problems in the country."

"It is because of Wagner that everyone came here" the Tuareg man said, referring to Russian contractors supporting Mali's security forces.

During the weekend attacks the key northern city of Kidal was returned to Tuareg control.

Images of Russian convoys leaving Kidal have sparked a glimmer of hope among many of the refugees.

However Abdallah, another refugee, said he is not pleased with the latest turn of events.

"I am far from happy that the FLA has retaken Kidal," the sun-weathered 77-year-old said.

According to him the alliance between the Tuareg-dominated separatist Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) and jihadists is bad news.

"For me, JNIM is a terrorist movement. Their objective doesn't align at all with our ideologies as moderate Muslims, peaceful Muslims."

Blockades imposed by JNIM jihadists on Malian towns since late last year have triggered a wave of refugees arriving in the region.

Nearly 14,000 people, the majority women and children, have taken refuge in Mauritania since just last October, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Resource tensions

The latest hostilities in Mali have humanitarian organisations worried about a new influx of refugees, with resources already strained.

"We are following the evolving situation with great attention and deep concern," Omar Doukali, UNHCR spokesman in Mauritania, told AFP

With the Sahel region increasingly a global epicentre of jihadist violence, Mauritania, which is home to some 5.5 million people, stands out for its remarkable stability.

But the large number of Malian refugees in Mauritania is creating tensions "on grazing land, water resources and all basic services, including healthcare," Cheikhna Ould Abdallahi, mayor of Fassala, told AFP.

The municipality hosts 70,000 refugees and Abdallahi is worried about the intensification of fighting in Mali.

With a one-year-old daughter in arm, 22-year-old Tilleli recounted her escape from Mali a month ago when Russians and the army looted and burned her village in the Mopti region.

"I can only return home after the Wagner Group leaves my country," she said.

"I have no hope that there will be peace anytime soon," she added.