Christians in Mali’s Mopti Region are being ordered to pay crippling taxation in the form of jizya by Islamist extremist groups. Local leaders are told refusal to pay will result in the seizure and closure of churches.
Details released to Catholic charity ACN, Aid to the Church in Need, reveal Christians over 18 in a village in the Mopti region must pay 25,000 CFA francs (US$ 41) each month. It is more than half the monthly income of many families.
“We are supposed to be living in a secular state, where such practices should not take place, but unfortunately this is becoming our new reality,” states one Christian worker. It follows Open Doors’ reports tracking jizya imposition in a Malian community in August.
The jizya is part of the intensifying persecution of Christians in the Sahelian region.
In June, males over the age of 15 in the Niger-Burkina Faso Tillaberi border region were also ordered to begin jizya or convert to Islam.
Terror-Linked Islamist Extremists Unite
Mali has been wracked by Islamist extremist insurgencies for over a decade. The military government, who seized power in 2021, are struggling with the jihadist group, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM).
But across Mali, Burkina-Faso, Niger, and Nigeria, terror-linked Islamist extremists carry out attacks against civilians and government forces. The Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), and al-Qaeda-linked JNIM operate alongside one another.
Experts speaking to Open Doors believe the group behind the Mopti jizya is a small group under the command of JNIM. Security analysts say the convergence of security threats and likely cooperation between terror groups is intensifying.
The practice of enforcing jizya gained prominence during the 2014 to 2017 ISIS occupation of Iraq and Syria.
In the Middle East, ISIS used jizya as a tool to impoverish Christian communities. Open Doors’ analysts believe the cases emerging in Mali are not isolated but part of a wider systemic plan.
“Families who refuse, or cannot afford to pay, are driven from their lands – places where they have grown up and lived all their lives,” says Jo Newhouse*, Open Doors’ spokesperson for Sub-Saharan Africa. “The long-term physical and emotional impact is devastating.”
The jizya in Mali is just one aspect of persecution facing Christians. Violence has led to school closures, food shortages, recruitment of child soldiers and displacement of Christian populations, while Christian missionaries living in Mali face constant threat of abduction.
*Names changed for security purposes.
Pray for Mali
- Pray for believers who are being extorted by extremists. Ask God to protect them and give them His peace, wisdom, and guidance as they face this persecution.
- Ask God to give courage and safety to each Christian who risks attack from extremists.
- Pray for those who are afflicted by persecution to have a profound experience of God’s comfort and love.
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