TikToker killed by suspected jihadists after pro-army posts

A woman TikToker accused of aiding Mali’s army has been arrested and killed execution-style by suspected jihadists.

Meriem Cisse, who is said to be in her twenties and has more than 100,000 followers on TikTok, has posted videos about life in her hometown of Tonka in the northern Timbuktu region and has often expressed her support for the army.

Her death shocked the nation, which has been fighting a jihadist insurgency since 2012. State television said she simply wanted to promote her community and support the military through her TikTok posts.

Mali is facing a fuel blockade imposed by jihadist groups on the capital, which has severely disrupted daily life, while the African Union expressed its “deep concern.”

French public radio RFI reported that suspected jihadists kidnapped Ms. Cissé while she was broadcasting live from a market in a nearby town.

“The jihadists arrested my sister on Thursday,” her brother told AFP, accusing her of “informing the Malian army of their movements.”

Over the weekend, she was taken to Tonka on a motorcycle and shot in the city’s Independence Square while her brother was in the crowd, AFP reported.

A security source told the agency that she was assassinated because she was accused of photographing jihadists “for the Malian army.”

In some of her TikTok videos, she wears a military uniform, captioning one of her posts: “Long live Mali.”

Her death comes as the crisis resulting from the jihadist siege worsens, with schools and universities remaining closed for weeks.

The government has suspended educational institutions since last month and said it would do “everything in its power to address the crisis” until they reopen on Monday.

The dire situation continued, and on Friday, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs advised its citizens to leave the country urgently while commercial flights were available.

African Union Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf said on Sunday he was concerned about “the rapid deterioration of the security situation as terrorist groups have imposed a siege, obstructed access to essential supplies and the humanitarian conditions have severely deteriorated for the civilian population.”

He condemned “deliberate attacks against innocent civilians” that caused “unacceptable loss of life and increased instability.”

He added that the African Union is ready to “support Mali, as well as all Sahel countries, during this particularly difficult period.”

Mali has been suffering for weeks from a fuel shortage, especially in the capital, Bamako, after militants from an Al-Qaeda group imposed a siege by attacking oil tankers on major highways.

Mali is a landlocked country, so all fuel supplies are brought in by land from neighboring countries such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

The military seized power in Mali in 2021 promising to improve security, but the jihadist insurgency continues and large parts of the north and east of the country remain outside government control.