Moussa Konate’s mother told him not to worry. She told him he would not understand. She told him he was too young to know the truth about why his father had left one night as the family slept.

About a decade later, he has grown into a man and better understands what was then impossible to comprehend. His father had not wanted to leave. Refusing a government job in Mali, he fled to protect his family.

“You have to do what they ask, and if you don’t, they will catch you and they will come for your family,” Mr. Konate, 21, said. “And then they kill you, and they kill your kids. Why? Because if they just killed the dad, they know the children will grow up and do to them what was done to their father.

“That’s why I feel bad,” he continued. “When my dad left, I was too young to understand why he didn’t come back. I’d tell my mom that even if he did come back, he wouldn’t be my dad anymore. But now I understand, and I regret saying this.”