The videos of tiktoker Mariam Cissé from Mali probably killed her

In a video that Malian Mariam Cissé posted on the video platform TikTok in October, she moves along to the cheerful sounds of , her hair braided in a tight pattern. “Long live Mali,” reads the text on the screen. She looks proudly at the Malian army uniform she is wearing. She gives a kiss on the collar.

It is probably one of the videos on the Malian twenty-something’s popular TikTok page that attracted the attention not only of her regular followers, but also of her later murderers. Last week, Cissé was kidnapped by armed men while she was walking around a market in her hometown of Tonka. They took Cissé to Independence Square on a motorbike and executed her in public.

Her own brother was also standing among the people on the square. Her family and local officials told the AFP news agency that “jihadists” were behind the killing. They accused Cissé of working for the Malian army. In one of the videos, she praised “the return of our brave soldiers.”

In Mali, the junta, which has been in power in that country since 2020, is fighting jihadist groups. These groups, many of which have ties to Al-Qaeda, have been gaining ground in the last few years. Just like at the end of 2012, they have now approached the capital Bamako. Cissé’s execution has not yet been claimed, but the jihadist group GSIM (Groupe de soutien à l’Islam et aux musulmans) is known to be active in Tonka.

Cissé had more than 160,000 followers TikTok. She had become a local star.

Her life in Tonka

In the videos she showed her life in the Malian city of Tonka. In one video she is swimming with a friend, in another she films a stage in Tonka on which models walk a fashion show, and in yet another groups of goats are seen next to a sand-colored city wall. In many videos she films her own face, or dances in dresses with traditional prints. “My baby,” reads a video of a young child who has spilled food all over his mouth.

The number of victims of the conflict in Mali has increased sharply since 2020, it appears dates. That year, the Malian army staged a coup and deposed the elected president. A second coup took place in 2021, by a different military leader. More than 14,000 people have died in the country since 2020. While the democratically elected president of Mali asked France for military assistance in the fight against jihadists at the end of 2012, the last French troops had to leave Mali in 2022. The junta strengthened ties with Russia, but Russian soldiers are unable to keep the jihadists at bay.

Finger along the throat

In recent weeks, GSIM jihadists have blocked roads, halting fuel supplies to Bamako and elsewhere, plunging the country into an even deeper economic crisis. Analysts fear a third coup in five years. In Malian areas already under the control of jihadist groups, strict dress codes have been implemented and suspects are being targeted convicted without due process of law. Cissé’s followers point accusingly at the authorities. “These people in power have sincerely failed [in de bescherming van Cissé] and have to leave,” says one of them in the comments on her TikTok account.

It is likely that Cissé knew she was in danger. The mayor of the region told the AP news agency that she had been receiving death threats for some time. At the end of last month, Cissé posted another video in which she appeared in an army uniform. She pointed to herself and drew her finger across her throat.

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