Armed individuals in Mali have reportedly taken the life of a TikTok influencer who had been sharing videos in support of the country’s military, officials stated on Monday. Mariame Cissé was kidnapped from a weekly market in Echel on Friday, as confirmed by Yehia Tandina, the mayor of Timbuktu. The following day, she was returned by the same group to Independence Square in Tonka and tragically executed in front of onlookers, according to Tandina.
Mamadou Konipo, the mayor of Tonka in the Timbuktu region, verified the incident but admitted a lack of further details. Tonka, situated about 150 kilometers from Timbuktu along the Niger River, is known to be an area where the al-Qaeda affiliate Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) operates.
Although no specific group has claimed responsibility for the act, Cissé, who was not affiliated with the military, occasionally shared images of herself in military attire with her sizable following of over 140,000 individuals. This behavior is believed to have attracted the attention of the assailants.
According to Tandina, threats on Cissé’s life had been received days before her abduction. The information was corroborated by two local sources speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity due to safety concerns. While neither witness personally observed the execution, one source relayed details from a witness in the crowd, with the other obtaining information from Cissé’s family.
In a video on her TikTok account, Cissé was seen donning military gear with the caption “Vive Mali,” aiming to show support for her community and the Malian army in safeguarding citizens and property. Mali has been grappling with armed factions since 2012, with the situation intensifying over the past decade. The military took control in 2020 to address rising insecurity, followed by another coup the next year. Insecurity has since escalated, as noted by monitoring organizations.
JNIM, among other armed groups, operates across vast rural regions in Mali. Currently, the nation is facing a fuel blockade imposed by JNIM, further exacerbating the challenges faced by the country.