Join with the Malian Church in Prayers for Peace

As the World Renew team leader for West Africa, I have spent many years getting to know local people in their communities. They have worked hard to improve the health and living situations of their families, and World Renew has helped them to help themselves. In collaboration with Resonate Global Mission, we have seen people study Scripture in their language for the first time and commit themselves to follow Jesus.

We have seen people study Scripture in their language for the first time and commit themselves to follow Jesus.

But in the last six years, our West African friends have faced great trials as violence has spread through regions and communities that were once safe—the same places where I raised my children.

This week some of the communities I love are being talked about on the world stage. On March 17, a jihadist rebel group killed 23 Malian soldiers. On March 23, a militia group burned two villages and massacred 160 Fulani people. The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, stated on Monday: “My Office will take all necessary steps to ensure the investigation and prosecution of those who participated in or otherwise contributed to what appears to be egregious crimes.”

Violence has spread through regions and communities that were once safe.

The international news coverage of the attacks has been spotty, and the information that has been shared has sometimes missed the full picture, casting the violence as purely religious. There is so much more going on here—a weakened state, land conflict, and more.

In the midst of all this, the Malian church is taking action. The Protestant and Catholic churches of Mali have joined to call for a day of prayer on March 31.

The Protestant and Catholic churches of Mali have joined to call for a day of prayer on March 31.

The fighting between the army and jihadist rebels has been fierce during all of the past year. The jihadists are a tiny minority of the Tuareg and Fulani ethnic groups, but they intimidate the villagers of areas under their control by assassinations, beatings, and armed patrols. Although Mali is 90% Muslim, the jihadists say that their teaching is the only true Islam and anyone who does not join them is an apostate. They have burned schools and driven out teachers, because their radical preachers say that education in the French language is sinful and corrupt—only Arabic education is permitted. A UN peacekeeping force of 15,000 has been in Mali since 2013, but with 479,000 square miles to cover, there are huge areas of jihadist control or influence.

Since the Malian military has been unable to prevent the jihadists from intimidating villagers, many militias have been formed, all along ethnic lines of Bambaras, Dogons, and Fulani non-jihadists. These cultures value tribal loyalty as the highest virtue, making escalating revenge a moral imperative for preserving honor.

Although Mali is 90% Muslim, the jihadists say that their teaching is the only true Islam.

Here’s another example of how this plays out: Fulani jihadists assassinated a Bambara shopkeeper. In retaliation, a Bambara militia went to a nearby Fulani camp, killed everyone they found there and burned their huts. That scenario has played out multiple times in the last two years, and the 160 Fulani killed March 23 were part of the cycle of revenge which keeps growing.

The viciousness of this most recent killing shocked the country because they killed pregnant women, elderly people, small children, horses, and goats, and burned all the homes and granaries where food was stored—the intention was to completely annihilate the two communities. The Dogon militia which had been involved in other attacks in this district claimed that they were not responsible for this one, and that the attackers were just wearing Dogon hunter clothing.

These latest events sadden us greatly but make us even more resolved to continue our efforts.

World Renew and other organizations have been helping displaced Fulani with relief aid, doing trauma healing work with both Fulani and Dogons, and supporting the national churches in peacebuilding efforts. These latest events sadden us greatly but make us even more resolved to continue our efforts. We will appreciate others joining us and the Malian churches in prayers for peace on March 31.