Many guide books and
foreign affairs websites and other such notices for
travellers still post warnings about the north of Mali. It
is difficult to know just what intelligence they are privy
to but any whispers of potential threats to western
travellers is a red flag. It is understandable that they
feel the need to do so to protect themselves from liability
if anything were to happen to a traveller. For this same
reason I hesitate to assure you that all is well. I will
say that take dire warnings of danger with the
understanding that the people giving them may not have
complete knowledge of what is happening on the ground and
want to protect themselves from liability.
Tuareg
Rebellion
There has been a situation of affrontment between a certain
faction of Tuareg in the region of Kidal and the Malian
authorities. This has included armed attacks and has led to
kidnapping and death of a number of Malian military.
However the "rebels" as they are being called were
restraining their activities to government installations
and the military. The history of the conflict is
complicated but in summary in 2006 after ten years of peace
the "rebels" were demanding that the government respect its
promises given in the peace accords signed after the
Rebellion of 1990, which the government has yet to
implement. The 2006 crisis was calmed but the Tuareg were
not willing to wait patienly for the new promises to be
instituted so after a short seace fire they took to arms
again. In the course of one affrontment between the
military and rebels some civilians were killed in the cross
fire. It should be noted that this situation has callmed
down and most of the “rebles” have given themselves up and
handed over thier wepons. It has been 2 years since the
last skirmishes. The Tuareg’s stated clame is justice from
the Malian government and an attempt to put international
pressure on Mali to respect the peace accords. It is
therefore in the interests of the rebels not to alienate
the international community which it would do by attacking
tourists. At no time during this period did the turage take
acction anywhere in the region of Timbuktu.
AQMI
There are have been Sadafists, an Islamic integrist group,
in the south of Algeria for some years, which made it a
risk to try and go overland in to Algeria from Mali.
Occasionally there were rumours that they had strayed over
the border into northern Mali and foreign embassies
panicked. While it is important to be alert to these
events, in fact, they did not come this far south there was
usually still several hundred or maybe a thousand km of
desert between them and Timbuktu.
Recently this group has started calling itself Al Queda of
the Maghreb Islamic or AQMI. The word Al Queda
automatically raises red flags and fears of terrorism in
western governments. Until recently the activities and
behaviours of this group did not show evidence of being
closely linked with the Al Queda in Afghanistan and many
commentators dubbed their activities as more motivated by
material interests than religious fervour. There have been
a number of kidnappings in recent years in Niger and some
in Mauritania that this group has been involved in. It is
suspected that they are held somewhere in the deserts of
Northern Mali. However only one westerner has been
kidnapped within Malian boarders. A French man who lived in
a small town in the Gao region closer to the Nigerian
boarder than to Gao itself. From what is known of the
members of this group few are actually Malians and those
who are few are Tuaregs. This is not an extension of the
Tuareg rebellion.
The leader of AQMI stated in November 2010 that the
negotiations for the current group of hostages should be
conducted directly with central Al Queda and that group
made statements giving credence to AQMI’s legitimate status
as part of Al Queda. This is a change from past policy and
it is not clear what the future holds neither with their
activities nor the response of Malian, and neighbouring
countries governments nor that of interested western
governments. The biggest concern is what impact all of this
might have on the local populations; possible increased
risk to tourists and there subsequent abandonment of the
region is on the top of the list.
Contraband
There is some contraband trade that goes on between Mali
and the neighbouring countries but it is mostly benign:
avoiding paying duty on powdered milk and pasta, which is
what allows people in Timbuktu to afford such goods. The
police and customs officers sometimes do stake-outs at
night on the fringes of town to try and catch them. There
have been a few errors where a legitimate car was mistaken
for a contraband and they have a hassle with the
authorities about it. I even heard of one incident where
someone called the police thinking there was some bandit
staked out to do something dastardly in the night and they
went and arrested the customs officer who was parked
outside of town waiting for clandos to come in. This should
not be a concern for anyone taking normal modes of
transport. When you are driving your own vehicle make sure
your papers are in order. For those adventurous types
coming overland in trucks or by unusual routes be sure you
have your papers in order too. The police usually only
bother the driver and those passengers who do not have
appropriate ID.
There does, however, exist some more nefarious traffic of
arms, drugs, and illegal immigrants. No one who is not
directly involved really knows much about it but they then
to use the open unguarded spaces of the desert to transport
their cargo. These means that they are in an area well
north of the city of Timbuktu in a very inhospitable zone.
Most travellers will not be in a position to encounter them
and based on there activities they are likely to want to
avoid you as much as you do them.
Warnings from guides in the south
When local people in places like Mopti give dire warnings
about brigands on the route to Timbuktu it is a ruse to get
you to stay in their sector, or use their services as a
guide, or leave your bags and valuables in Mopti “where
they will be safe” so that you will be unable to stay long
in Timbuktu and will be obliged to return to them. If you
choose to leave some of your stuff in Mopti so as to be
able to travel light, be careful where you leave it and
with whom. If you are leaving your vehicle so as to be able
to take a river trip up or down, leave it with the police
or in some hotel that permits parking and has a
guardian.
From my
experience I have never heard of anyone getting held up or
hijacked on the road to Timbuktu from Douenza. In some
areas in the north there have been a few incidents of car
theft or jacking. These were usually fancy new 4x4
belonging to ONGs and on at least some occasions of theft
they were left in insecure locations (parked on the street
someplace with no guardian) The car-jackings I have heard
about, the local nomad population have rapidly taken steps
to recover the vehicle because they know they will be
accused of the theft.
In any event there are two things to keep in mind: Simply
leaving your house carries some risk. When you decide to
travel you accept to do so at your own risk. There have
been a handful of auto thefts in the last few years in the
area north of Timbuktu but the city has virtually no
violent crime and petty theft is much lower than in the
major cities in the south of Mali. It is no more dangerous
than anywhere else in the world; take the same safety
precautions you would anywhere.
Some
safety tips.
* Don’t give out your travel
itinerary to every random person who asks.
* Be vague about exact dates of departure or arrival
(besides the person taking reservations for your transport
or lodging, of course).
* Don’t take out your money in public, if you don’t let
people see where the money comes from they will have a
harder time knowing where to make a snatch.
* Don’t flaunt your wealth or fancy electronic gadgets.
* Keep some of your money hidden in various places so if
something does get stolen you will still have some more.
* Register with your embassy. If you do not have an embassy
find out which other embassy serves you while in Mali. See
the sections on visas and embassies
for more
information
* Do not publicize the fact if you are someone who comes
from a very wealthy family or have connexions with famous
or political personalities it could make you a target.
* Let someone at home know your general plans so if you are
not back or in contact by a certain time they can make
inquiries.
* If you plan to make a long trip into the north, let
someone trustworthy in a town know your general plans so
they can make an inquiry if you are delayed. Bandits are
not the only danger. Illness, injury, getting lost could
also happen.
* Don’t attempt to find your own way in the desert. Always
go with a competent local guide and over estimate the
amount of water you will need. The Sahara is not a joke.