Mali Bans Jeune Afrique Over Coverage of Jihadist Fuel and Security Crises

Following military coups, the three countries finalized the establishment of the Alliance of Sahel States in 2024 to fight security threats from jihadist militants that have killed thousands and displaced millions.

The Alliance states have suspended and banned several French media outlets in recent years, while also pivoting from France to Russia for military support.

In its January 16 decision, Mali’s Ministry of Territorial Administration banned Jeune Afrique, a widely read pan-African weekly, because of its “spurious and subversive” accusations against Mali over the disruption of fuel imports, for “glorifying terrorism,” and “defamation and incitement to hatred.”

Since September, the al-Qaida-backed Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) has blocked fuel imports by attacking supply routes to Mali’s capital, Bamako, triggering lengthy petrol queues, power cuts, surging prices, and school closures.

The ministry also said that Jeune Afrique had made baseless accusations and lacked balance in its handling of “allegations of abuses against of a segment of the population” by the AES and Burkinabé armed forces. In 2025, Jeune Afrique published several investigations into the massacre of ethnic Fulani civilians by troops seeking to defeat Islamist armed groups.