Moussa (all first names have been changed) would regularly send updates from the front via WhatsApp. But after the attack on his detachment in Dioura, central Mali, on May 23, in which some 40 soldiers were killed by jihadists from the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), Awa, his mother, stopped receiving any messages. "At first, I tried to find out more from the authorities. I got no response," she said.

Nearly a month later, two soldiers claiming to be from the army's social services arrived at her home. "They told me my son had fallen on the field of honor and that he fought for the defense of the nation until his last breath," Awa said. The visitors said no more, refusing to tell her where her son was buried. They gave her a sack of rice, some food supplies, an envelope with 100,000 CFA francs (about €150) and promised her "long-term" financial assistance. "Since then, I have had no further news," she said, disappointed.

In Mali, as well as neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, dozens of families have been left for weeks, sometimes months, without any news of their sons, brothers or fathers killed in action. For the juntas that seized power in these countries (in 2020, 2022 and 2023, respectively) and have since formed the Alliance of Sahel States (ASS), military successes have been their raison d'être. Propaganda ensures that every victory is reported and every defeat – and therefore every soldier killed – is downplayed or even silenced. "It is a deliberate act, almost ideological, with orders given to that effect. Our losses are hidden almost systematically. There is a code of silence surrounding our dead," a Malian officer said on condition of anonymity.

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