AFP Asia Business

At least $50 million for the freedom of an Emirati sheikh: that is the king’s ransom paid two weeks ago to jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda who are pushing to topple the Malian government and impose Islamic law.Alongside a crippling fuel blockade, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, known by its Arabic acronym JNIM, has made kidnapping wealthy foreigners for a ransom a pillar of its strategy of “economic jihad”.Its goal: oust the junta, which has struggled to contain Mali’s decade-long insurgency since taking power following back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021, by scaring away investors and paralysing the west African country’s economy. In June, the JNIM threatened to strike any foreign businesses and industries installed in Mali, as well as any enterprise doing business with the Malian government without its “authorisation”. Since then the group — which hopes to cement its status as one of the most powerful of the jihadist factions to plague the region by expanding towards the Atlantic coast — has made good on its promise.It has attacked and burnt tankers carrying vital fuel to landlocked Mali from the coasts of Senegal or Ivory Coast, launched assaults on factories and mines alike — and kidnapped more foreigners than ever before.”Between May and October 2025, at least 22 foreign nationals have been abducted — roughly double the previous record of 13 in 2022,” Heni Nsaibia, Senior West Africa Analyst for the ACLED conflict monitor, told AFP. Chinese, Indians, Egyptians, Emiratis and Iranians are all among the victims, together with a Serbian, a Croat and a Bosniak, Nsaibia added. – ‘Highest known’ ransom -The JNIM demanded the $50 million ransom after kidnapping a member of the United Arab Emirates royal family involved in the gold trade near the capital Bamako on September 26, according to a source close to the negotiations and another Malian security source.Two of his business partners, an Iranian and a Pakistani, were also abducted. A first sum of 400 million CFA Francs (more than $700,000) was then sent to the jihadists in exchange for proof that the hostages were alive, the source close to the negotiations said. The JNIM then freed the trio at the end of October after a ransom of “$50 million at least”, the source added. That sum “represents the highest known ransom in the region and constitutes a major financial boost for (the JNIM)”, said Nsaibia.Who actually paid the ransom is unknown.But a Malian security source, who confirmed the exorbitant total, said JNIM also obtained “the release of around 30 of its prisoners” held by the Malian intelligence services.”Malian soldiers were also released during the same exchange. It is an astounding deal in terms of its scale and the elements involved, especially in the current context,” the security source continued.For Rida Lyammouri, a researcher at the Policy Center for the New South, the ransom will allow the JNIM to “maintain its current level of military engagement, including the economic blockade on Bamako, for a prolonged period”.  – Swelling war chest -“Such a haul will only serve to boost the JNIM’s ambitions to expand and establish a lasting presence in the Sahel and the coastal states of Africa,” Lyammouri added.Liam Karr, an analyst at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute (AEI), pointed out that those “funds will help the group procure more weapons, such as commercial drones, explosives, and small arms, as well as pay salaries to fighters”.The withdrawal of French troops in the wake of the coup has left a security vacuum exploited by the jihadists which the junta’s new security partners — including Russia — have failed to fill, Lyammouri said. And the JNIM still holds several other hostages who, once ransomed, will swell its war chest even further. Most are abducted in the west of the country, where around 80 percent of Mali’s gold production is mined, according to the Soufan Centre consultancy. At least 11 Chinese citizens have been abducted in western Mali in attacks on seven industrial sites, of which six were run by Chinese companies, according to the AEI think tank.And just last week, five Indians working for an electricity company and an Egyptian were kidnapped in the same region.”Targeting foreign nationals drives away foreign investment, undermining a key revenue stream for the Malian junta,” notably in the mining sector, said Karr, the AEI analyst.With the JNIM’s grip tightening, the United States and the United Kingdom announced two weeks ago that it was pulling out all non-essential personnel from Mali, while many embassies have urged their citizens to leave the country. lar-sd-str-bdi/pid/els/sbk/giv

Crammed under a tattered tent on rough wooden benches, Yemeni children are learning Arabic grammar — lucky to receive an education at all in a country hammered by years of war.The children, some without shoes or textbooks, were born into a divided state where fighting has destroyed nearly 3,000 schools. Those that remain are plagued by power cuts and a lack of running water.Al-Ribat al-Gharbi school near Aden, in Yemen’s government-controlled south, is a typical case, with lengthy power outages, no water supplies and a lack of trained teachers.Next to the crowded tent, teacher Suad Saleh is doing her best with another large group of kids in a cheap temporary building.”Each class has more than 105 or 110 students,” she said, wearing the black niqab, or face-covering, that is customary for Yemeni women.”With this overcrowding, most of them can neither read nor write,” she told AFP. Her rudimentary classroom is so packed that many children are sitting on the tiled floor, exercise books on their laps.”It takes me 10 minutes just to quiet them down,” she said.- Meagre wage -The plight of Yemen’s schools, as well as reflecting the country’s humanitarian crisis, also signals difficulties for future development, hampered by an uneducated population.More than 4.5 million children in the country of 40 million have been denied schooling, according to UNICEF.Yemen was the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country even before Huthi rebels, capitalising on mass anti-government protests, seized the capital Sanaa and large parts of the country in 2014.Fearful of the Tehran-backed militia on its border, Saudi Arabia gathered an anti-Huthi military coalition, launching thousands of air strikes from early 2015.The conflict, although largely halted since 2022, has left hundreds of thousands of dead and two-thirds of Yemenis dependent on aid.Each morning at Al-Ribat al-Gharbi, students grab packets of UN-provided fortified biscuits to stave off hunger.”The main problems are the absence of suitable classrooms, almost no electricity, and no running water,” along with a lack of trained teachers, said deputy principal Mohammed al-Mardahi.Many professional teachers have quit, despairing at the low pay. Yemen has witnessed months-long strikes by teachers.”We work for a very small salary — 50,000 Yemeni rials ($31) — what can that do for us in these circumstances?” said Saleh. Schools in Huthi areas face similar issues, with teachers frequently unpaid and many facilities lacking basic resources.Yemen’s plethora of armed groups and military forces have “destroyed and damaged thousands of schools through air strikes and ground fighting… and even utilised others as recruiting grounds for children”, the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies said in a report published in February. – ‘Terrible impact’ -Saudi Arabia, seeking regional calm as it pursues economic reforms at home, has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into development programmes in government-controlled areas of Yemen, with education one area of focus.Saudi money has paid to train more than 150 female teachers and rebuilt 30-plus schools, including Aden’s Al-Haram al-Jami’i, according to Saudi aid officials.There, the classrooms offer a stark contrast to the dilapidated government schools, with painted walls, new desks, whiteboards and fans, and students in smart uniforms.”Students from this area used to travel far to reach schools, which caused hardship for both them and their parents,” said principal Fathiya al-Afifi.The focus on development shows a shift in Riyadh’s approach to aid, said analyst Omar Karim, a Saudi policy expert at the University of Birmingham.”Aid used to go mainly to tribal leaders to gain political influence, or to government officials for similar reasons — or even to buy weapons,” he told AFP. But even with the injection of aid, war still hangs heavy over everyday life. For Afifi, the school principal, the destruction of Yemen’s education system has been nothing short of “catastrophic”.”Stopping education has had a terrible impact… An entire generation can neither read nor write,” she said.”This is a disaster.”