Post #431

📺Jihadists Want Neither Gold nor Hostages 📺 🌐 On Sunday, JNIM militants attacked a gold mine in southeastern Mali, set equipment on fire, and took 7 workers hostage — only to release them the following evening. Since October last year, the mine has formally belonged to Flagship Gold, which became the first US firm to come for Malian gold after new mining laws were effected in 2023. The mine in question is the Morila gold mine, a world-class open pit that was nationalized in June 2025 after an Australian company abandoned it in 2022. 🪖 Given that no announcements have followed since October about the American company actually coming to the site the site, it is reasonable to assume that the kidnapped workers were Malian employees of the state-owned company SOREM, which had been running the mine after nationalization. ❓ Of course, there is an elephant in the room here: since when does JNIM take hostages for just one day? If the Americans are yet to arrive, one can assume that government representatives showed wonders of persuasionor gave the militants everything they asked for to avoid a scandal. Or perhaps the jihadists simply changed their minds. ➡️ Follow to stay informed - @devilsbelow