Mali sits in the middle of West Africa, with most of the country situated within in the Sahel desert. It is a key operation for the ICRC, where we’ve worked since 1982 and held a delegation since 2013—falling typically within the top 15 largest global operations budget-wise, and top 5 in Africa. Since 2012, the country has experienced escalated conflict and a resulting dire humanitarian situation.

In this episode of the podcast, we are joined by Jean Nicolas Marti, the outgoing head of delegation in Mali and Judith Oputu, ICRC’s Diplomatic Advisor for Africa. We speak about the continuing instability, conflict dynamics, and operational impacts as well as diplomatic interventions and why the situation continues to deteriorate despite efforts. We also discuss the implications of a global pandemic on an already precarious situation and COVID19 policy efforts in-country as well as the exacerbating effects of climate change in the Sahel, and the policy work and conversations trying to mitigate the results. Hosted by Trevor Keck.