Armed individuals in Mali have tragically ended the life of a TikTok influencer who had been showing support for the country’s military, officials revealed on Monday. Mariame Cissé was taken from a weekly market in Echel last Friday and later executed in front of a crowd at Independence Square in Tonka, as per Yehia Tandina, the mayor of Timbuktu.
The mayor of Tonka, Mamadou Konipo, confirmed the incident but noted a lack of additional details. Tonka, situated about 150 kilometers from Timbuktu along the Niger River, is known to be a location where the Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate, operates.
No organization has claimed responsibility for the influencer’s death. Cissé, who was not affiliated with the military, occasionally featured herself in military attire on her TikTok account with over 140,000 followers, which likely attracted attention from the perpetrators.
According to Tandina, Cissé had received threats before her abduction. Two local sources corroborated the story to Reuters, stating they had not witnessed the killing but had been informed of the details by others present during the incident.
In one of her TikTok videos, Cissé appeared in military clothing with the caption “Vive Mali,” aiming to showcase her community and support the Malian army in safeguarding the populace and their belongings, as reported by state television.
Mali has been grappling with armed groups since 2012, with the situation escalating over the past decade. Following a military takeover in 2020 to address insecurity, another coup occurred the following year, exacerbating the instability, according to monitoring organizations.
Large rural areas in Mali are under the influence of armed groups, primarily JNIM, with the country currently facing a fuel blockade by the group.