Shoppers navigate through noisy improvised street filled with goods and merchants, their flip flops slap the dusty ground, as they move between the stalls offering fish, cattle, cereals, dried onions, yams, dates, meat, tea, wood, fruits and vegetables.
Djeneba Kassogue, a seller of fruits and cold drinks from Mopti remembers how she braved the 65 kilometers road leading to Konna three years ago, in permanent fear to be robbed. Since the market is now secured and fully functioning, this seller of fruits and cold drinks is now able to support her family of three children.
The market of Konna re-opened in late 2013 following violence that forced civilians to flee, devastating the local economy. Since then, regular joint patrols by United Nations Police (UNPOL) and Malian Security Forces helped build confidence among local community and contribute to durable peace in the area that is better known as the new epicenter of Mali’s six-year conflict.
The unprecedented scale of violence that started in 2012 led to widespread displacement and recurrence of human rights violations against civilians living in this area. The violence started when separatist Tuareg rebels seized large parts of the north of Mali, following a military coup in the capital, Bamako, forcing thousands to flee.
The upsurge of inter-community conflicts between the Fulani herders and the Dogon and Bambara farmers, and intra-community conflicts among the Fulani, combined with the attacks by violent extremist groups all contributed to deepen the instability. More than 1,500 violent incidents caused the death 1,323 civilians killed and injured 611 just in Central Mali since January 2017
The gradual improvement in security since the arrival of the United Nations peacekeepers has seen the local economy slowly begin to pick up in the remote town of 36,000 people in the center of Mali~MINUSMA
