Ivory Coast is stepping up deployment of security forces along its northern frontier after a surge of refugees fleeing escalating attacks by armed groups in neighboring Mali, raising fears of instability spreading southward.
The Ivorian National Security Council instructed military commanders to reinforce border controls during an emergency session on Thursday.A government statement linked the “unusual refugee flows” to “attacks on civilians by Armed Terrorist Groups in several localities in southern Mali.”
Authorities are registering asylum seekers while implementing stricter security measures to monitor the tense frontier region.
The refugee influx is driven by renewed attacks from Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda-linked group that recently carried out a damaging fuel blockade in Mali.
The group has been extending its operations westward toward Ivory Coast’s border, though Malian officials downplay the risk of jihadists threatening the capital Bamako in the short term.
These security enhancements are part of broader efforts by West African coastal countries to contain the Sahel insurgency’s spread.
The decade-long conflict has displaced millions and disrupted regional economies, forcing countries like Ivory Coast to boost border security as militant activity moves south, threatening previously stable areas.
