Return to Timbuktu
Return to Timbuktu
Kora, 18 Jan 2016
URL: http://kora.unhcr.org/return-timbuktu/
A story of exile and reunion for Malian refugees
Four years ago, a conflict broke out in the north of Mali, pitting government forces against rebel movements, forcing tens of thousands of people to seek refuge in neighboring countries. Today, while more than 140,000 Malians are still in exile in Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger, some refugees have decided to return home to their villages and cities, in areas where security has improved in the past months. This is the case for Jafar and his family, who recently left the Mentao refugee camp in Burkina Faso.
TIMBUKTU, MALI, 18 January 2015 (UNHCR) – The end of the day is cool and calm, ideal for sipping a cup of green tea among friends. Jafar, 24, a young Malian of Tuareg origin, savors this Sahelian drink with friends in a schoolyard in one of the many outlying neighborhoods. It is barely a month since he has returned to Timbuktu, also known as the “pearl of the desert,” in this arid region in the north of Mali.
“I come from the city of Gossi, which is part of the Timbuktu Circle. This is my native region. I spent my childhood here before departing in 2008 to Gao to continue my studies.” In Gao, Jafar studied literature. “I was very good in French, so it was quite natural for me to do my baccalaureate in literature.” In high school, he learned quickly and therefore had time for other activities. “In addition to my studies, I was an independent driver for tourists and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the region. Thanks to that, I could pay my school fees and provide for my family.”
“I knew I had to leave the country at all costs”
In the beginning of 2012, as he was starting the school year to obtain his baccalaureate in June, he had to change his plans because of the war that broke out in the north of the country. “As soon as the war started, I no longer felt safe at home. I knew that I would have to leave the country using any means possible.” He was 20 at the time and he went by car to Niamey, the capital of Niger.
The road to Niger was the one that then seemed the fastest and safest to him. However, after hearing from his family, Jafar understood that he would not stay in Niamey for long. “When I called my parents, I learned that they had just fled to Burkina Faso. After two weeks in Niamey, I left to meet them”. He then took a bus from Niamey to Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, where he arrived after a-ten-hour journey. “UNHCR opened a camp 18 kilometers from Ouagadougou to provide assistance to Malian refugees. I found my family there and we stayed there until it closed.” The Sag-Nioniogo Camp hosted up to 2,813 Malian refugees before closing at the beginning of 2015 for budgetary reasons.
The Malian refugees who chose to continue to benefit from UNHCR’s assistance were then relocated to one of two camps of their choice, located in the Sahel region, in the north of Burkina Faso. “We chose the Mentao camp, since we knew more people there,” explains Jafar. This camp, which is located a few kilometres from the city of Djibo and about fifty kilometres from the Malian border, now hosts 13,000 Malian refugees. UNHCR ensures their legal protection and provides them with essential services (such as water, education, healthcare, shelter). Since 2014, the agency has facilitated the departure of Malian refugees who would like to return to their country of origin. They receive 35,000 CFA francs (USD 70) per individual to help them organize their transportation to Mali, most often by truck or car.
“What I remember from this journey? That security is everything”
At the Mentao Camp, Jafar found safety, but also love and friendship. “I met my wife Zeinabou in the camp, we got married there. That’s also where our daughter Fadimata was born” he adds. “When I left the camp for Mali, I was anxious. Not just because I was taking an unknown route, but also because I did not want to leave a part of my life and close friends behind. We were very close and living together was good. But we wanted to return to Mali more than anything else, and we took my nephew with us, Sidi, whom I consider as my son.
For Jafar and his family, joy marked their return to Timbuktu. “When I left Mali, it was chaos. When I returned, I found a city that had resumed its economic activities. National and international security forces are present, as well as humanitarian ones,” confirmed Tony, for whom the situation that he discovered in his native city was not a surprise. “I was getting news when I was in Burkina Faso. I was in permanent contact with my family members who had stayed in Mali.”
Gossi, Gao, Niamey, Ouagadougou, Sag-Nioniogo, Mentao, Timbuktu… an adventure that lasted nearly five years and that shaped the character and outlook of the young man. “What I remember from this journey? Security is everything. It was a lack of safety that forced us to leave Mali. It is safety that we searched for in Burkina Faso. We found it in the refugee camps. And it is because I knew that Timbuktu had again become safer that we decided to return there with my family.”
Even though some Malian families are choosing to spontaneously return to their native regions in Mali from their exile in neighboring countries – more than 800 repatriated refugees have been verified by UNHCR in the past six months – the security situation in northern Mali remains volatile. If the conflict that shook Mali officially ended with the signature of the Peace Agreement on 15 May and 20 June 2015, terrorist and criminal attacks, as well as human rights violations, persist. Access to some return areas remains a challenge for humanitarian organizations.
And while some refugees, such as Jafar, are able to return to their region, which is now safer, others continue to flee unstable situations and to seek refuge in Burkina Faso, Mauritania or Niger. As a result, more than 4,300 Malians have left Mali since July 2015 to seek refuge in Niger. More than 2,300 Malians arrived in Burkina Faso between January and November 2015, fleeing renewed violence in the north of their country.
Some 40,700 Malian refugees have returned home following their exile
Jafar and his family have since reintegrated into their native community in Timbuktu. “I found my neighbors there, everything was fine with them,” he explained. “Our family has started to come back together with the return of relatives from Burkina Faso.” However, the major concern for this head of household remains the lack of employment to support the needs of his family, especially since his home had been pillaged and destroyed because of poor maintenance. Personal belongings that they had left behind were stolen. But now Tony’s mind is turned towards the future. “We are starting to rebuild it little by little.”
Limited access to potable water and food in some areas, the high prices of basic goods, as well as limited access to public and administrative services in certain localities has meant that there has only been a timid return of refugees to date. According to the Malian authorities, some 40,700 Malian refugees have returned home following their exile after the crisis broke out in Mali in 2012. More than 17,000 of these returnees have been verified by UNHCR. Most have returned to the regions of Gao, Mopti and Timbuktu.
In the return areas, UNHCR implements community reintegration projects in a certain number of priority communities, such as in Goundam, Gossi, Léré, Soumoundou, Tilemsi and Timbuktu. These projects are aimed at supporting infrastructure that contribute to improving access to education, healthcare, hygiene and water. They help those who have repatriated, as well as the populations who have remained, in order to build peaceful coexistence. UNHCR has also finalized the pilot phase of a financial assistance project for repatriated refugees. In total, in November and December 2015, 4,307 – of whom 1,492 were in Timbuktu – received USD 110 per adult and USD 50 per child. This assistance made it possible for them to start over with a decent life in their area of return and has improved the means of subsistence of many families
With his return home, Jafar now has many plans. He would like to take the baccalaureate exam as an independent candidate, then get a job with the Malian government or an international NGO. “With my high school education and the experience I acquired at the camp, I plan to do humanitarian work. But I no longer have any specific contacts in Timbuktu, so it will be difficult to find a job if I do not have a diploma that reflects my skill level. In the meantime, I need to cover our expenses. My two children have started school again and we have our rent and living expenses. Any work will do for now.” A regular income will also make it possible for him to continue financing his wife’s nursing studies.
140,776 Malians are still refugees in neighboring countries, 34,221 of which are in Burkina Faso, 50,228 in Mauritania and 56,012 in Niger. 61,920 people are still displaced within Mali.
From Isabelle Michal in Bamako and Paul Absalon in Ouagadougou
Four years ago, a conflict broke out in the north of Mali, pitting government forces against rebel movements, forcing tens of thousands of people to seek refuge in neighboring countries. Today, while more than 140,000 Malians are still in exile in Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Niger, some refugees have decided to return home to their villages and cities, in areas where security has improved in the past months. This is the case for Jafar and his family, who recently left the Mentao refugee camp in Burkina Faso.
TIMBUKTU, MALI, 18 January 2015 (UNHCR) – The end of the day is cool and calm, ideal for sipping a cup of green tea among friends. Jafar, 24, a young Malian of Tuareg origin, savors this Sahelian drink with friends in a schoolyard in one of the many outlying neighborhoods. It is barely a month since he has returned to Timbuktu, also known as the “pearl of the desert,” in this arid region in the north of Mali.
“I come from the city of Gossi, which is part of the Timbuktu Circle. This is my native region. I spent my childhood here before departing in 2008 to Gao to continue my studies.” In Gao, Jafar studied literature. “I was very good in French, so it was quite natural for me to do my baccalaureate in literature.” In high school, he learned quickly and therefore had time for other activities. “In addition to my studies, I was an independent driver for tourists and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the region. Thanks to that, I could pay my school fees and provide for my family.”
“I knew I had to leave the country at all costs”
In the beginning of 2012, as he was starting the school year to obtain his baccalaureate in June, he had to change his plans because of the war that broke out in the north of the country. “As soon as the war started, I no longer felt safe at home. I knew that I would have to leave the country using any means possible.” He was 20 at the time and he went by car to Niamey, the capital of Niger.
The road to Niger was the one that then seemed the fastest and safest to him. However, after hearing from his family, Jafar understood that he would not stay in Niamey for long. “When I called my parents, I learned that they had just fled to Burkina Faso. After two weeks in Niamey, I left to meet them”. He then took a bus from Niamey to Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, where he arrived after a-ten-hour journey. “UNHCR opened a camp 18 kilometers from Ouagadougou to provide assistance to Malian refugees. I found my family there and we stayed there until it closed.” The Sag-Nioniogo Camp hosted up to 2,813 Malian refugees before closing at the beginning of 2015 for budgetary reasons.
The Malian refugees who chose to continue to benefit from UNHCR’s assistance were then relocated to one of two camps of their choice, located in the Sahel region, in the north of Burkina Faso. “We chose the Mentao camp, since we knew more people there,” explains Jafar. This camp, which is located a few kilometres from the city of Djibo and about fifty kilometres from the Malian border, now hosts 13,000 Malian refugees. UNHCR ensures their legal protection and provides them with essential services (such as water, education, healthcare, shelter). Since 2014, the agency has facilitated the departure of Malian refugees who would like to return to their country of origin. They receive 35,000 CFA francs (USD 70) per individual to help them organize their transportation to Mali, most often by truck or car.
“What I remember from this journey? That security is everything”
At the Mentao Camp, Jafar found safety, but also love and friendship. “I met my wife Zeinabou in the camp, we got married there. That’s also where our daughter Fadimata was born” he adds. “When I left the camp for Mali, I was anxious. Not just because I was taking an unknown route, but also because I did not want to leave a part of my life and close friends behind. We were very close and living together was good. But we wanted to return to Mali more than anything else, and we took my nephew with us, Sidi, whom I consider as my son.
For Jafar and his family, joy marked their return to Timbuktu. “When I left Mali, it was chaos. When I returned, I found a city that had resumed its economic activities. National and international security forces are present, as well as humanitarian ones,” confirmed Tony, for whom the situation that he discovered in his native city was not a surprise. “I was getting news when I was in Burkina Faso. I was in permanent contact with my family members who had stayed in Mali.”
Gossi, Gao, Niamey, Ouagadougou, Sag-Nioniogo, Mentao, Timbuktu… an adventure that lasted nearly five years and that shaped the character and outlook of the young man. “What I remember from this journey? Security is everything. It was a lack of safety that forced us to leave Mali. It is safety that we searched for in Burkina Faso. We found it in the refugee camps. And it is because I knew that Timbuktu had again become safer that we decided to return there with my family.”
Even though some Malian families are choosing to spontaneously return to their native regions in Mali from their exile in neighboring countries – more than 800 repatriated refugees have been verified by UNHCR in the past six months – the security situation in northern Mali remains volatile. If the conflict that shook Mali officially ended with the signature of the Peace Agreement on 15 May and 20 June 2015, terrorist and criminal attacks, as well as human rights violations, persist. Access to some return areas remains a challenge for humanitarian organizations.
And while some refugees, such as Jafar, are able to return to their region, which is now safer, others continue to flee unstable situations and to seek refuge in Burkina Faso, Mauritania or Niger. As a result, more than 4,300 Malians have left Mali since July 2015 to seek refuge in Niger. More than 2,300 Malians arrived in Burkina Faso between January and November 2015, fleeing renewed violence in the north of their country.
Some 40,700 Malian refugees have returned home following their exile
Jafar and his family have since reintegrated into their native community in Timbuktu. “I found my neighbors there, everything was fine with them,” he explained. “Our family has started to come back together with the return of relatives from Burkina Faso.” However, the major concern for this head of household remains the lack of employment to support the needs of his family, especially since his home had been pillaged and destroyed because of poor maintenance. Personal belongings that they had left behind were stolen. But now Tony’s mind is turned towards the future. “We are starting to rebuild it little by little.”
Limited access to potable water and food in some areas, the high prices of basic goods, as well as limited access to public and administrative services in certain localities has meant that there has only been a timid return of refugees to date. According to the Malian authorities, some 40,700 Malian refugees have returned home following their exile after the crisis broke out in Mali in 2012. More than 17,000 of these returnees have been verified by UNHCR. Most have returned to the regions of Gao, Mopti and Timbuktu.
In the return areas, UNHCR implements community reintegration projects in a certain number of priority communities, such as in Goundam, Gossi, Léré, Soumoundou, Tilemsi and Timbuktu. These projects are aimed at supporting infrastructure that contribute to improving access to education, healthcare, hygiene and water. They help those who have repatriated, as well as the populations who have remained, in order to build peaceful coexistence. UNHCR has also finalized the pilot phase of a financial assistance project for repatriated refugees. In total, in November and December 2015, 4,307 – of whom 1,492 were in Timbuktu – received USD 110 per adult and USD 50 per child. This assistance made it possible for them to start over with a decent life in their area of return and has improved the means of subsistence of many families
With his return home, Jafar now has many plans. He would like to take the baccalaureate exam as an independent candidate, then get a job with the Malian government or an international NGO. “With my high school education and the experience I acquired at the camp, I plan to do humanitarian work. But I no longer have any specific contacts in Timbuktu, so it will be difficult to find a job if I do not have a diploma that reflects my skill level. In the meantime, I need to cover our expenses. My two children have started school again and we have our rent and living expenses. Any work will do for now.” A regular income will also make it possible for him to continue financing his wife’s nursing studies.
140,776 Malians are still refugees in neighboring countries, 34,221 of which are in Burkina Faso, 50,228 in Mauritania and 56,012 in Niger. 61,920 people are still displaced within Mali.
From Isabelle Michal in Bamako and Paul Absalon in Ouagadougou