Mali army cadets secure a perimeter on the military side of Bamako's airport, Jan. 16, 2013, during a joint visit to French and Malian troops by Mali's President Dioncounda Traore and French Ambassador to Mali Christian Rouyer.Jerome Delay—AP
French photographer Jerome Delay has spent the past month photographing the unfolding conflict in Mali for the Associated Press. Here, LightBox presents a selection of his recent work along with his reflections on his time in-country:
When I took the Mali assignment a month ago, I knew it would be challenging. I wondered how, in an asymmetrical war (as the French brass likes to call it), I would photograph a pick-up full of Jihadists being taken out by a smart bomb dropped from a Mirage fighter jet in the middle of the desert. Remember rule number one in photography: be there!
Yet the speed of the ground deployment and its increasing intensity was a testimony to the fact that the Jihadists were not going to be flushed only from the sky — and this is where the frustration started. Despite countless requests from all news organizations to have access to the conflict, French forces (read: Paris politicians at the Ministry of Defense) had a media plan: they want to control everything. During an organized visit to Konna a week after it was “liberated,” I felt I was being shown around by Libya’s former ministry of information handlers. “Shoot this, not that!”
Furthermore, everything was designed from the start to make access virtually impossible. To get to Sevare, I had to bypass five Malian checkpoints, whose instructions were to turn back any and every journalist on the road. Thanks to Land Cruisers and GPS, we managed bypass them each time.
Though I was not going to the front, I still felt I had to tell the story somehow — the why’s and the who’s of the conflict, if not the how’s. And like most modern-day conflicts (even those dating back 600 years), death and destruction seems to breed freely in the most spectacular scenery. Mali is a country of such beauty and warmth that every instant is a meaningful image and powerful story.
I am still waiting to go to the front. It is more than 200 miles from where I am, in Gao … or is it? Last Sunday, Jihadists engaged African and French forces in a fierce gun battle less than a mile from here. I guess as we are entering stage two of this conflict, I might not have to go to the front after all. It might just come to me….
Jerome Delay is the Africa Chief Photographer of the Associated Press.
Bystanders stand by a French APC as a French Puma transport helicopter lands to test the field in the center of Niono, some 400 kms (300 miles) North of the capital, Bamako, on Jan. 20, 2013.Jerome Delay—APMali army cadets secure a perimeter on the military side of Bamako's airport, Jan. 16, 2013, during a joint visit to French and Malian troops by Mali's President Dioncounda Traore and French Ambassador to Mali Christian Rouyer.Jerome Delay—APA French soldier waits for a French Puma transport helicopter to land on the soccer stadium to test the field in the center of Niono, some 400 kms (300 miles) North of the capital on Jan. 20, 2013.Jerome Delay—APWorshipers pray in the mosque in Banamba.Jerome Delay—APChildren and adults alike play soccer on a dusty field in Segou, central Mali, Jan. 21, 2013.Jerome Delay—APMalian women sift wheat in a field near Segou, Jan. 22, 2013.Jerome Delay—APA charred helmet lays on the ground of a destroyed base used by Islamist rebels, Jan. 26, 2013.Jerome Delay—APAdama Drabo, 16, sits in the police station in Sevare, some 620 kilometers (385 miles) north of Mali's capital, Jan. 25, 2013.Jerome Delay—APA young child runs through a deserted side street in Gao, northern Mali, on Jan. 28, 2013, the day after French and Malian troops secured a strategic bridge and the airport.Jerome Delay—APA suspected Islamist extremist who was beaten by the crowd lies in the back of an army truck in Gao, Jan. 29, 2013. Four suspects were arrested after being found by a youth militia calling themselves the "Gao Patrolmen." Malian soldiers prevented the mob from lynching them.Jerome Delay—APDuring an official visit organized by the French military, French troops are positioned overlooking the bridge crossing the river Niger at the entrance of Gao, Jan. 31, 2013.Jerome Delay—APA Malian man sits on a window sill to watch the Nigeria versus Mali Africa Cup of Nations semifinal soccer match taking place in South Africa, Feb. 6, 2013.Jerome Delay—APIssa Alzouma, 39, poses in front of his home in Gao, Jan. 31, 2013. Alzouma's arm was amputated by Islamist radicals on Dec. 21, 2012, after an Islamic tribunal charged him with spying. Alzouma, a father of three, denied the charges, and said he was just changing the faulty plug on his motorcycle's engine alongside the road.Jerome Delay—APWell-wishers gather to greet French President Francois Hollande during his two-hour-long visit to Timbuktu, Feb. 2, 2013.Jerome Delay—APA Malian man dressed in green walks between green doors of closed shops in Gao, Feb. 5, 2013.Jerome Delay—APA Malian woman waits at a checkpoint on the banks of the Niger river outside Gao, Feb. 7, 2013.Jerome Delay—APFootprints from worshipers are left in the sand at the ancient Askia mausoleum's mosque, built in 1495 in Gao, northern Mali, Feb. 9, 2013.Jerome Delay—APWorshipers arrive for prayers at the Askia mausoleum's mosque, Feb. 9, 2013.Jerome Delay—APA Malian officer closes a cell where suspected Islamist rebel group 'the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa,' MUJAO, fighters are held in Gao, Feb. 11 2013.Jerome Delay—APSeveral bodies lie at the bottom of a well in Sevare, Jan. 26, 2013. A witness told The Associated Press that he saw soldiers fatally shoot at least three people at a nearby bus stop and dump their bodies in the well.Jerome Delay—APA suspected member of MUJAO sticks his hand out of the cell where suspected fighters are held in Gao, Feb. 11 2013.Jerome Delay—APMalian people gather around the leg of an Islamic fighter outside the police station in Gao, Feb. 11, 2013.Jerome Delay—APMalian children walk outside a Madrassa, or Quranic school, in Gao, northern Mali, Feb. 13, 2013.Jerome Delay—APA Young Malian girl walks through the school in Gao, Feb. 13, 2013. Jerome Delay—AP
