Afrique-Europe-Interact supports different peasant's communities in Mali which are affected by landgrabbing. However, the common struggle with the two villages Sanamadougou and Sahou has become the most important activity in this direction. Therefore one can find here some general articles and texts about the situation of Sanamadougou and Sahou even if the majority of informations is only available in the german version and french version of this website.

To the State Secretary Mr Thomas Silberhorn – as answer to your letter from 16th December 2015

Dear Mr Silberhorn,
Dear Ms Kaiser,
Dear Mr Rauh,

on 16th December 2015, you have once more responded in detail to information we have been conveying to you concerning the occurrence of land grabbing in the Malian villages of Sanamadougou and Sahou. While we would like to cordially thank you for your effort, we also have to express our astonishment, if not confusion, as your statements in significant matters are based on factually false information (which we are sure you are not accountable for). Specifically, a court sentence is mentioned, supposedly passed on 20th December 2012, in the legal dispute between the two villages Sanamadougou and Sahou and the company M3-SA by investor Modibo Keita. Correct, however, is that on this day, the court has merely decided for the appointment of an external consultant (see the ruling included in attachment 1) and that hence, to this day the case is far from being closed. Additionally, there are several other inaccuracies in your letter. Therefore, we would like to turn to you once again. You may be interested to know that an almost identical letter is being sent to the Malian president Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta.

May 2015: Renewed Protests by the Inhabitants of Sanamadougou and Sahou. By the european section of Afrique-Europe-Interact

The two villages, Sanamadougou and Sahou, in Mali, have been fighting for the past five years against eviction from their land by the large-scale investor Modibo Keita. This is the reason for yet another large-scale action by the farmers on the 2nd of June 2015 – followed by an open-ended sit-in by the affected farmers. The transnational network Afrique-Europe-Interact (which consists of grassroots initiatives in Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Tunisia, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands) supports this protest, specifically requesting to money donations and solidarity actions outside Malian embassies in Europe (1). After a long period of stagnation, in May 2014 several campaigns in Mail and Germany succeeded in putting considerable pressure not only on the responsible investor but also on the Malian authorities.

Report on the solidarity work with peasant movements in Mali by Olaf Bernau. This text has been first published in the monthly journal ak – analyse & kritik in april 2015

Since 2012 the transnational network Afrique-Europe-Interact has been forming alliances with small-scale farmers in Mali, who have been affected by different forms of land grabs. In this report we want to take stock from different perspectives, to join the processes in Mali to the debates on transnational organizing and internationalistic solidarity work in Europe.

The scene that takes place in March 2015 seems completely anachronistic from a European perspective: A very old and blind village mayor, sits down in front of his doorless hut between two other very old men. The three of them want to welcome the 12-member delegation of the transnational network Afrique-Europe-Interact (AEI), among them three activists from Europe.

August 2014: International Appeal by the European section of Afrique-Europe-Interact

Early 2013 Mali briefly made international headlines. Islamic militia occupied the North of the country, an international military intervention headed by France followed, and bigger cities such as Timbuktu and Gao could be liberated. Still, for the bulk of the population life has hardly changed – neither in the North nor in other parts of the country. The social situation of small farmers, which make up about 75 per cent of the population, is particularly disastrous. Typical examples are the villages Sanamadougou and Sahou, 270 kilometres north east of the capital Bamako. As little ago as 2009 these villages donated 40 tons of millet to the Mali government to alleviate a national food crisis. Today, they are dependent on food donations themselves, because the global booming sale of fertile forests, farmlands and pastures to investment fonds, banks and corporations have caused violent eviction in Sanamadougou and Sahou also.

This very important report identifies and examines cases of large-scale land acquisitions in Mali – including the cases of Sanamadougou et Sahou. The report provides background on the institutional and political context of the country, the current macroeconomic situation, the state of food and agriculture, and the current investment climate. Additionally, it documents detailed information regarding four land investment deals currently being carried out in Mali – inluciding their devasting consequences such as food insecurity, loss of food sovereignty, the displacement of small farmers, conflict, environmental devastation, water loss, and the further impoverishment and political instability of African nations.

The Report can be downloaded here

Furthermore we would like to recommend an interview with members of the Oakland Institute about their recent research about land-grabbing in Mali, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone (which has been published on Pambazuka News)