Jihadists attack Chinese companies in Mali

In recent weeks, fundamentalists from the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (JNIM, in its Arabic acronym) have increased attacks on foreign facilities in Mali, particularly Chinese ones, to weaken the ruling junta.

According to the American Enterprise Institute, JNIM has already attacked seven industrial facilities, six of them Chinese, with the aim of forcing the payment of "security fees" and "delegitimizing the government." The al-Qaida-affiliated group had threatened to target foreign companies in June.

In August, attacks intensified in the Kayes gold-mining region in the west and reached the center of the country for the first time, including Chinese sugar factories in Ségou. Days later, a guard died in an attack on a British-operated lithium mine in Bougouni (south).

"This is not a specific hostility towards the Chinese , but rather a logic of weakening the Malian economy," said Bakary Sambe, director of the Dakar-based Timbuktu Institute, quoted by the France-Presse news agency.

Kayes is considered strategic, representing 80% of Malian gold production and serving as a trade corridor for Senegal, the country's main supplier, the Soufan Center highlighted.

According to the UN, JNIM is currently "the main threat in the Sahel." In early September, the group imposed a blockade on Kayes and Nioro, on the border with Mauritania, to prevent the entry of fuel and threatened traders and transporters.

Analyst Liam Karr of the American Enterprise Institute said that at least “11 Chinese citizens” were kidnapped, mostly in Kayes.

China has not confirmed the number, but the embassy in Bamako has assured that it is in contact with local authorities and is sparing no effort to rescue the kidnapped people.

Chinese diplomacy also assured that it has taken measures to protect its citizens in Mali. JNIM is also suspected of kidnapping three Indians in July at a cement plant in the west of the country.

The American Enterprise Institute warned that the offensive could “undermine trade relations” with China, “one of Mali’s largest economic partners.”

Between 2009 and 2024, Chinese private investment amounted to $1.6 billion (€1.35 billion), while Beijing has invested $1.8 billion (€1.5 billion) in 137 projects since 2000.

The Chinese presence gained prominence after the coups d'état of 2020 and 2021, in a context in which the junta broke with France and moved closer to Russia and Türkiye.

Mali currently has the support of Chinese armored vehicles, Turkish unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) and the Russian Africa Corps (formerly Wagner) force in the fight against JNIM and the Islamic State in the Sahel.

"Russia is willing to use instability to strengthen its influence, in contrast to China, which seeks stability to protect its commercial interests," Karr commented.

The attacks come as the junta itself seeks to strengthen its control over strategic resources, such as the country's largest gold mine, Loulo-Gounkoto, demanding hundreds of millions of euros in back taxes from Canada's Barrick Mining.