Displaced Malians have been forced to flee after a fire tore through their makeshift camp in the capital, Bamako, destroying tents and reducing the land to ashes.

Nobody was reported killed in Tuesday’s fire, Security Minister Salif Traore told AFP news agency.

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The Faladie camp – little more than a collection of huts resting on a landfill – was home to more than 1 000 people, most of whom had fled violence in central Mali.

“I had been living there for two years,” said Aminata Diallo while looking at the ruins of her hut. She said that she had fled her home in central Mali because of war “and again I have lost everything”.

Officials said they were not yet sure what started the fire, but one survivor said people had been burning rubbish in the landfill.

“People set fire to waste to burn it and with the strong wind today everything caught fire at the end of the morning, it is a disaster,” said Ibrahim Maiga, a survivor of the fire.

“We don’t know what to do tonight, what to do next,” said Ibrahima Sarre, a humanitarian worker at the camp.

Officials promised to find somewhere else for the people to go.

Mali is struggling to contain an armed rebellion that erupted in 2012, and which has claimed thousands of military and civilian lives since.

By Dr Mercy Alu

I am a mother, HR consultant, author, Goodwill Ambassador with Globcal (a partner with UN on SDG's in Africa), coordinator with International Association of African Authors/Scholars, a songwriter/recording artist, researcher, and social anthropologist of sorts! I believe we should all live our best lives, and enjoy helping organizations and individuals perform better. I and my guest authors love to share information about the world around us; African events & Entertainment, plus lots of good information about Health, Wellness, Family, Book Publishing, Business, Relationships, Culture, Folk Stories, and much more. I speak several languages including French and Igbo (a West African Language). I enjoy research, writing, reading, singing and finding out lots of things about, well, lots of things! Knowledge is power. So information and knowledge gained from experiences, observation, all flavor the things I write about in the exciting blog portion of this website. Feel free to drop me a line or two, I also want to hear from you!

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