Since 8 March 2022, in the Ménaka region, at the border with Niger, violent fighting has broken out between armed movements signatories to the 2015 peace agreement (the Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MSA), the Tuareg Self-Defense Group Imghad (GATIA) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), following the assassination of an MSA member in Tamalat.

Local media report about a hundred of civilians killed, including children and women, and others held hostage by the ISGS imposing sharia law on the populations.  The victims are mostly from the Daousahak community.

According to UNHCR about 1,500 people have fled the violence and are displaced in Mali (mostly in Andéramboukane and Iguizragane),  while some 1,200 have fled to Abala in Niger.

DG ECHO partners are assessing needs and providing initial response in Mali and Niger.