A journalist at maliactu.net made a video about the camp conditions. However, when the video didn’t get the traction that he had hoped for, he decided to go and see the rubbish dump for himself. It is right near the Faladié livestock market.

I thought that if I took striking photos of the camp, people would react. I saw too many children living there in those conditions. I wanted to make sure that people on social media knew what was going on. The camp itself is built on heaps of garbage. The smell is unbearable. There's always rubbish burning, which is why you see some smoke in all my pictures. People have to burn their rubbish to reduce the volume of their waste. However, the problem is that it is very hard to put out fires here, it is always smoldering away somewhere. Sometimes, one of the tents will catch fire and the smoke is really dangerous and toxic.



There is always rubbish burning in the Faladié landfill where a group of refugees set up camp. (Photo: Salif Diarra)



(Photo: Salif Diarra)



(Photo: Salif Diarra)

Under normal circumstances, people aren’t allowed to build in this area because it is so close to the Bamako airport. Occasionally, livestock farmers stay here for a short periods on their way to and from the Faladié livestock market.

Faladié camp was set up in a landfill near a livestock market.

The people living in the camp are all Fulani, who fled communal violence in central Mali. Recently, the violence caused by land disputes between Fulani herdsmen and Dogon farmers has been getting worse. On January 1, 2019, an estimated 37 civilians were killed during an attack on the Fulani village of Koulogon.

The people living in the camp are all Fulani, who fled communal fighting in central Mali. Recently, violence caused by land disputes between Fulani herdsmen and Dogon farmers has been getting worse. On January 1, 2019, an estimated 37 civilians were killed during an attack on the Fulani village of Koulogon. These IDPs (internally displaced people) come from the Mopti region in central Mali. They started arriving here about six months ago but the numbers have been increasing at a much faster rate since December. Currently, there are 116 adults and 203 children under the age of 15 living in Faladié. The Fulani IDPs set up their camp here because the president of the association that manages livestock sales in Faladié is a well-known Fulani man from Mopti. He offered the land to the IDPs. He tries to organise the camp a bit but it hasn’t really worked.

Another journalist, Boubacar Labasse Koné, who works for journaldumali.com also reached out to the France 24 Observers about this situation after a child "died because of the living conditions in the camp. His lungs were haemorrhaging and the doctor couldn’t do anything to save him".