A young Malian TikTok influencer, Mariame Cissé, was abducted and killed by armed men after publicly expressing support for the country’s military, local officials confirmed Monday.
Cissé was taken on Friday while visiting a weekly market in the village of Echel. According to Yehia Tandina, the mayor of Timbuktu, she was brought back the next evening and executed in Independence Square in Tonka, in front of onlookers. The mayor of Tonka, Mamadou Konipo, also confirmed the incident but said details remain scarce.
Tonka, located along the Niger River about 150 kilometers from Timbuktu, is an area where militants from Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaida-linked group, are known to operate. No group has claimed responsibility for the killing.
Cissé, who was not affiliated with the military, had gained a following of over 140,000 on TikTok, where she occasionally posted photos of herself in military attire. Authorities believe this may have made her a target. She had reportedly received death threats in the days leading up to her abduction.
Mali has been grappling with insurgent violence since 2012, and the situation has deteriorated further since a series of military coups in 2020 and 2021. Despite promises to restore security, armed groups especially JNIM continue to control vast rural areas. The country is also currently facing a fuel blockade imposed by the militants, exacerbating the crisis.
