By Elysia Rezki Head of legal and policy, Edith Bosch Jordan Advocacy Assistant and Elena Artibani Academy Analyst Assistant 

Introduction:

The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) denounces the ongoing persecution, marginalization and systemic invisibilization of the Bellah people in Mali and across the wider Sahel. This report examines how evolving geopolitical dynamics and renewed forms of foreign interference continue to endanger the survival of the Bellah community. The Bellah, historically subjected to descent-based slavery and social exclusion, now face renewed threats under shifting power structures in Mali. Patterns of forced marginalization, lack of political representation and enduring human rights violations have placed their cultural continuity, social cohesion and physical security at grave risk. These vulnerabilities have been exacerbated by the consolidation of military rule and by the growing influence of external actors, most notably Russia, whose involvement has deepened cycles of violence, dependency, and impunity in the region.

The Sahel, a vast belt of land stretching across sub-Saharan Africa, has long stood as one of the continent’s most volatile epicenters. This region, a strategic bridge between the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa, is marked by deep-rooted political and security fragility, exacerbated by the proliferation of jihadist and separatist groups, and by the intensifying competition among external powers. Mali, in particular, epitomizes the contradictions of the Sahel: internal conflict, foreign interference, and ethnic persecution converge in an increasingly militarized environment.

At the heart of this fragile landscape lies the plight of the Bellah people, also known as Peuls Bellah or Fulɓe Bellah, a distinct ethnic community inhabiting the Sahel region, primarily in Mali, Mauritania and Niger. The Bellah possess a unique cultural heritage that intertwines Fulani pastoralist traditions with broader Sahelian influences. Their semi-nomadic lifestyle, centered on cattle herding, reflects deep-rooted values of communal cooperation and adaptability to the harsh Sahelian terrain. Yet, despite this rich cultural identity, the Bellah remain one of the most marginalized groups in Mali. Their exclusion from political, economic, and social spheres has systematically denied them equal representation within national and local governance structures. As a result, the Bellah lack effective participation in decision-making processes that directly affect their land, livelihoods, and cultural preservation, reinforcing a cycle of invisibility and dependency that continues to undermine their rights and self-determination.

Historically subordinated within the Kel Tamasheq (Tuareg) social hierarchy, the Bellah continue to suffer discrimination rooted in descent-based slavery. They are often labeled as “servants” or “slaves” within Tuareg society, a legacy perpetuated and reinforced under French colonial rule. This inherited status has systematically limited their access to education, political participation and economic opportunity, effectively silencing their voice in decisions that affect their land, culture and future. Today, the Bellah are almost invisible on official ethnic maps of Mali, their existence largely erased from state recognition.

Meanwhile, Mali itself has become a symbol of a region trapped between chronic insecurity and new forms of geopolitical dependence. After decades of French interference, the Bamako junta sought to free the country from the remnants of European colonial domination. Yet, in its pursuit of sovereignty, Mali has merely exchanged one form of dependency for another. Russia, capitalizing on widespread anti-Western sentiment, swiftly positioned itself as Mali’s dominant partner, offering military aid in exchange for political leverage and access to resources.

Under the leadership of the Africa Corps, the rebranded successor to the Wagner Group, Moscow has not brought stability but rather inaugurated a new era of violence and impunity. Malian forces, operating alongside Russian mercenaries, have been accused of summary executions, enforced disappearances, and massacres of civilians, particularly among ethnic minorities such as the Bellah and the Fulani. Under the pretext of “counterterrorism,” Russo-Malian cooperation has turned security into a mechanism of repression, entrenching increasingly authoritarian military elites and silencing dissent.

The Russian intervention in Mali reflects not a commitment to peace, but a deliberate strategy of resource extraction and geostrategic consolidation. The result is a country progressively isolated, cut off from regional accountability mechanisms after its withdrawal from ECOWAS, where minorities like the Bellah continue to endure systemic discrimination, displacement and violence in a climate of near-total impunity. What was once envisioned as liberation from French colonial dominance has, in practice, devolved into a new form of subjugation, this time under the shadow of Moscow’s influence.

Today, the Bellah do not appear in any ethnic maps in Mali, remaining invisible. Since 2017, the Bellah people have been represented at UNPO by the Malian Association for the Preservation of Bellah culture (AMASCB-IKEWAN). The UNPO works for the rights of the Bellah people and to preserve their future. 

The Persistence and Evolution of Colonialism

​Historically, the Bellah people have endured a long and aching history of enslavement, which has been carried out in Mali for centuries. According to a book by Choguel Kokalla Maiga, Les Rebellions Au Nord du Mali. Des Origines À Nos Jours, more than one source pinpoints the Bellah as the first inhabitants of the Sahara.

In the 19th century, France colonised Mali, transforming the territory into a formal French colony in 1892 under the name of French Sudan. France’s colonial rule would continue until the territory achieved independence as the Republic of Mali in 1960.

​During French colonial rule, the region’s political economy underwent significant alterations. Notably, the French government decided that all unproductive lands were the property of the State-effectively dispossessing communities and pastoralists. Their colonial rule brought noticeable changes to the social structure and the cultural practices of indigenous populations, including the Bellah.

​French colonisation also racially influenced the social structures among the Tuareg people. These changes stemmed from France’s civilising mission in Western Africa, which had European ethnographers force their racial and societal ideals onto the Tamasheq societal hierarchy. They were then projected onto Malian citizens. This solidified the Bellah people’s marginalisation, effectively discriminating against them for the colour of their skin.

​At the same time, even though slavery had been abolished in Europe and the New World during the nineteenth century, some forms of servitude continued in Mali. Prior to French colonisation, there were caste systems of “free origins”, such as nobles, and “unfree origins”, like slaves, which influenced the discourse, social behaviours, and socioeconomic status of ethnic groups in society.

​Under French colonial rule, the caste system had been used to racially classify Kel Tamasheq as “white”, and they were at the top of the social hierarchy. The Bellah, or black Kel Tamasheq, were classified as “slaves” within society’s division.

Crucially, the French colonial rulers, who were focused on economic development, overlooked this practice of enslavement. This dismissal meant slavery would continue well into the future, with the well-known Malian anti-slavery group Temedt reporting 800.000 slavery cases in Mali in 2021. Their work suggests that slavery was still an ongoing practice in the far north, between Tuareg nomads and darker-skinned Bellah or black Tamasheq people.  

​Efforts towards the emancipation of the Bellah people would not begin until the twentieth century. Achieving this would require many years of persistent effort and advocacy, due to the fact that the French colonial administration had not put any effort into addressing the repercussions of slavery within the Tuareg society. Their lack of legal jurisdiction to improve the Bellah people’s lives deprived them of substantial resources and amplified their ongoing societal discrimination.

​For decades, the Malian government did not criminalise descent-based slavery in its penal code. This allowed for descent-based slavery through the maternal bloodline to persist and exist in northern regions, where notable Bellah communities can be found. Those descended from slaves remain the property of their masters, either living with them and serving them directly, or living separately but remaining under their control.

On December 14, 2024, the National Transition Council approved a new version of the Penal Code that explicitly criminalised slavery and related practices, including descent-based slavery. It is worth noting that the new Penal Code also criminalises sexual slavery, and it outlaws the forced marriage of an enslaved woman.

​It remains unclear whether the new Malian Penal Code will have a tangible impact on terminating descent-based slavery in Mali. The impact of these protections is limited by a social context where the weight of social norms will make it difficult to identify and support victims of slavery. Members of the Bellah community believe its application will be limited, although it constitutes a significant legal advance. 

Even if Mali achieved formal independence from France in 1960, the logic of colonial domination has never fully disappeared, it has merely changed form. The mechanisms introduced during French rule, centralized authority, control over land and resources, and the hierarchical division of society, have been deeply internalized within the Malian state itself. The same structures once used to subjugate the population under European rule have been repurposed by national elites to dominate their own citizens.

Mali remains a society still anchored in ancient social divisions, where caste hierarchies and racialized distinctions continue to dictate access to power, wealth and rights.

In this sense, the colonial legacy is not a closed chapter of history but a living system, perpetuated and reinterpreted by postcolonial rulers. The Malian state, rather than dismantling these inherited mechanisms of control, has often reproduced them, silencing dissent, marginalizing ethnic minorities like the Bellah, and maintaining social subordination through political exclusion and repression. The colonial relationship has simply been inverted: those once subjected to external domination have become, in turn, the enforcers of new forms of internal colonization.

Today, this historical continuity is compounded by the emergence of Russian neocolonial influence, which has entrenched itself under the guise of partnership and security cooperation. Moscow’s involvement manifests in multiple ways: military occupation through the Africa Corps, economic dependence via resource exploitation, disinformation campaigns that reshape public opinion, and political manipulation that consolidates authoritarian power. Russia’s strategy mirrors the extractive and paternalistic patterns once employed by France, imposing control not through open conquest, but through dependency and fear.

The result is a tragic paradox: Mali’s attempt to free itself from the vestiges of French domination has only led to a new form of subjugation. Colonialism, again, has not been historicized, it persists, evolving through new actors and new languages of control. Across the Sahel, the cycle of domination continues as states reproduce, within their own borders, the very systems of inequality and violence once imposed upon them. In Mali, this continuity finds its most devastating expression in the ongoing marginalization of the Bellah people, whose history of enslavement has simply taken on new, modern forms of exclusion and silence.

Life Conditions for the Bellah people

Living conditions for the Bellah people are contingent on their being free or still subject to enslavement-like practices. The enslaved Bellah people suffer from poor living conditions. In certain Northern regions, “slaves” cannot participate in the local or national political life. They cannot attend village meetings, nor become elected officials. Marrying outside their caste system is forbidden.​

If they declare their own freedom, according to the anti-slavery organisation Gambana, they can lose their home, land, and resources. This act of defiance can also result in public floggings, which aim at disincentivizing the community from proclaiming their liberty.

​This is because descent-based slavery, although recently outlawed, is long-rooted in hierarchical social structures. It assigns slave status at birth based on one’s lineage, stripping victims of fundamental rights and tying them to a life of inherited subjugation. Anti-slavery organisation Temedt asserted that even though slavery affects all categories of the population, women, children, and the elderly are often the most vulnerable. Young girls fall victim to repeated rape by their masters or family members. Children are often used for fieldwork or grazing, denying them access to education.

​A 2024 report  estimated that there are still 300,000 victims of hereditary slavery in Mali, arguing that perpetrators exploit some members of the Black Tuareg community, the Bellah people, to slavery practices rooted in traditional relationships of hereditary servitude.​

Those who are not living in slavery-like conditions still face societal discrimination in Mali. Representatives from Gambana, the anti-slavery organisation, commented that the lives of enslaved people are tightly restricted, as they are being deprived of civil liberties by other groups and castes, suffering from a lack of educational opportunities, adequate housing, and protection of their animals from theft. Some reports indicate officials have hindered their ability to obtain identity documents, voter registration cards, legal protection, or development aid.

Traditionally, the Bellah people traverse the Sahel in search of pasture and water, a lifestyle that has been deeply shaped by the increasingly volatile security situation in Mali. They dedicate their time to rearing and herding livestock such as sheep and goats,  practices that form the core of their social organisation and cultural identity. This way of life is not merely an economic necessity but a vital expression of their collective heritage. However, ongoing conflict, displacement, and systemic marginalisation have placed this heritage under severe threat. Preserving the Bellah’s culture, traditions, and autonomy is therefore essential, a commitment that lies at the heart of UNPO’s mission to safeguard the identity and rights of unrepresented peoples worldwide.

Security Risks, Displacement, and the Role of Russia in Mali

The Bellah people are not shielded from the increasingly volatile security situation developing in Mali. Since 2012, the country has faced a deep security crisis, as political armed groups, including ethnic-based movements, transnational criminal networks, and jihadist factions, compete for hegemony and control of trafficking routes in the North, where most Bellah communities reside. Traditional nomadic herder groups such as the Bellah have been cut off from their migratory routes, their movements restricted by fear of attacks from both the army and self-defence militias.

The conflict began in 2012, when a Tuareg rebellion in the north triggered massive displacements. The then-President Touré was overthrown, and Tuareg military officers declared the independence of the State of Azawad. In 2013, French forces intervened to support the Malian government, recapturing much of the north and helping organize elections and a short-lived peace agreement. Yet, the agreement quickly faltered, as both sides accused each other of violations. Fighting continued through 2014, and political instability escalated further in 2020, when President Keïta resigned following a military takeover, dissolving parliament. Ethnic tensions intensified, resulting in widespread deaths in northern and central Mali. A constitutional referendum was eventually held in June 2023, but elections have been repeatedly postponed, extending the military junta’s rule until 2027.

Amid this instability, the Bellah have been forcibly displaced from their ancestral lands and subjected to direct attacks that threaten the survival of their culture. The arrival of Russian forces under the Africa Corps, successors of the Wagner Group, has further exacerbated their vulnerability. Although presented as a stabilizing counterterrorism initiative, Russian involvement has effectively reinforced the power of the military junta while failing to protect civilians. Malian forces, operating alongside Russian mercenaries, have conducted operations that disproportionately affect ethnic minorities, including summary executions, forced displacements and attacks on villages.

Rather than providing security, the presence of the Africa Corps has deepened the risks faced by the Bellah, consolidating hierarchies of power and leaving already marginalized groups exposed. In this context, Russian involvement functions as a modern extension of external domination: it exploits existing social divisions, reproduces patterns of exclusion and amplifies historical injustices rooted in the legacies of French colonialism. For the Bellah, centuries of systemic marginalization and discrimination now intersect with new forms of militarized oppression, further threatening their survival, their cultural heritage and their access to traditional lands.

Current Issues

Information about the Bellah people is scarce and minimally reported, further amplifying their marginalisation and invisibility. UNPO works to defend the rights of the Bellah, often in collaboration with civil society organizations and community representatives, while the main UNPO member organization representing the Bellah with full voting rights at the General Assembly is the Malian Association for the Preservation of Bellah Culture (AMASCB-IKEWAN).

​The Human Rights Report produced by the U.S. Department of State in 2022 shed some light on the current issues the Bellah people still face today. In their findings, they underscored how societal discrimination continues to persist against Black Tuaregs. They indicated that some dominant ethnic Tuareg groups were still depriving Black Tuaregs of fundamental civil liberties due to hereditary slavery-like practices and hereditary servitude relationships.

​In addition, there have been continued reports of slaveholders kidnapping the children of their Bellah slavery victims. Slaveholders considered slavery victims and their children as property, and reportedly took children of slavery victims to raise them elsewhere without permission from their parents. The Malian Association for the Preservation of Bellah Culture (AMASCB-IKEWAN) recently communicated with UNPO to denounce the kidnapping of Bellah children, reportedly sold by Tuaregs in the Timbuktu region.

​In October 2024, the new Malian government suspended the activities of the anti-slavery association Temedt, whose work has been crucial in exposing the slavery practices the Bellah people suffer. The decision, made by the Ministry of Territorial Administration, has been justified by arguing that Temedt has not respected certain administrative procedures required when operating as a civil society organisation. Before their suspension, Temedt organised workshops in the Kayes region to convince communities to abandon the practice of slavery.

​Recent updates from the region indicate that those not enslaved still face ongoing prejudice, stigmatisation, and close to complete exclusion from positions of power within the Malian political arena. The Bellah people report how their culture has been degraded by the socio-economic and security situations for years, also being one of the most vulnerable communities to crime. Their nomadic lifestyle has been affected by perpetual attacks by bandits, which have a brutal and devastating impact on their daily lives. Even if they manage to escape the ongoing gang violence, their herds can be stolen and sold in neighbouring countries. ​

The current security situation has exacerbated their difficulties, limiting their resources and worsening their quality of life. To ensure the future of their communities, some children under the age of 11 are entrusted to a leader or responsible person to ensure their survival in the face of attacks. The volatile security situation has made them suffer from Tamasheq militant threats in many villages, with no capacity to defend themselves, resulting in their forced displacement. It is worth noting that there has been a report of a Bellah man from Tombouctou being abducted, with no information regarding his status or where he is.  

UNPO Insight

The situation of the Bellah people in Mali and across the Sahel epitomizes the persistence of systemic marginalization and the failure to protect the rights of stateless and unrepresented communities. For too long, the Bellah have been silenced by internal hierarchies, state neglect and foreign interference. UNPO reaffirms that recognizing their right to self-determination is essential to enable the Bellah to preserve their culture, access resources and participate meaningfully in decisions affecting their future.

Recognizing the Bellah’s right to self-determination is central to this vision. The Bellah demand not only visibility and protection, but the ability to choose their own political, cultural and economic path, free from coercion, domination and inherited systems of servitude. Genuine recognition would enable them to preserve and revitalize their cultural heritage, reclaim access to land and resources and secure meaningful participation in local and national decision-making. Upholding these rights is essential to redressing historical injustices that have persisted since the colonial era.

Addressing the plight of the Bellah is therefore not merely a moral imperative but a vital step toward protecting human dignity in the Sahel. The growing Russian influence in Mali and across the Sahel reveals that this crisis extends far beyond the Bellah themselves. The Africa Corps’ presence and Moscow’s strategic engagement in the region do not only threaten local stability, they also pose a broader challenge to Europe. By reinforcing military dictatorships, exploiting key natural resources and manipulating migratory dynamics, Russia’s actions in the Sahel have the potential to destabilize both regional and European security. Confronting these dynamics therefore requires a comprehensive international response that protects vulnerable communities like the Bellah while addressing the geopolitical forces that endanger them.