Kourémalé had never seen anything like it. This small Malian town on the Guinean border, in the Kangaba district, has within days become the arrival point for tens of thousands of gold miners driven out of the mining sites of Siguiri, more than 200 kilometres inside Guinea. According to the latest figures from the Malian authorities, more than 160,000 people coming from Guinea have been registered between Kourémalé and Bamako.
The movement stems from a sweeping decision by the Guinean authorities. Conakry has banned mining in several parts of the Siguiri region, particularly in riverbeds and along riverbanks, in classified forests and in protected areas. The measure is part of a wider drive to take back control of the gold sector, which has also seen the opening of a national refinery and the dismissal of numerous local officials in the region accused of turning a blind eye to illegal mining. On the ground, the intervention of Guinean security forces sparked hurried departures. The mayor of the Malian municipality that covers Kourémalé, Mamby Keïta, has even reported gunfire and forced expulsions.
The human toll is heavy. Six people have died in the border town, where thousands of exhausted and hungry young people have crowded in. Not all of the displaced are Malian. Burkinabè and nationals of other countries are among them, and Guinea’s foreign minister says that 606 Malians and 409 Burkinabè have been handed over to their respective embassies. In a show of solidarity between members of the Alliance of Sahel States, around 17,000 people have already been transported to Burkina Faso, according to the Malian coordination centre managing the crisis.
To avoid an unmanageable influx into the capital, Bamako chose to gather those expelled at Kourémalé and set up a secure humanitarian corridor, with Kati serving as a relief point. The strategy appears to be working. Arrivals in Bamako have stabilised and the numbers reaching the border are starting to fall.
On Sunday, November 8, Malian Prime Minister General Abdoulaye Maïga travelled to the area with members of the government and the National Transitional Council. On behalf of President Assimi Goïta, he thanked residents and humanitarian partners for their welcome. On the diplomatic front, his tone was measured but firm. The head of government said Mali respected Guinea’s sovereign decision, while criticising expulsions carried out without prior consultation with Bamako. He recalled that Presidents Assimi Goïta and Mamadi Doumbouya had committed to maintaining permanent dialogue between the two countries.
The Malian authorities have mobilised substantial emergency aid. The Ministry of Health and Social Development, together with the Food Security Commission, delivered rice, pasta, sugar, cooking oil and four cattle, along with medicines worth 7 million CFA francs. A well-equipped advanced health post has also been set up on site. Abdoulaye Maïga also appealed to truck owners to help transport the displaced.
Beyond the humanitarian emergency, the crisis highlights how many young people across the Sahel depend on artisanal gold mining, often practised outside their own country. It also raises the question of how neighbouring states coordinate the regulation of a resource as coveted as gold.