Gossi is a town and
rural commune in the
Cercle of Gourma-Rharous of the
Tombouctou Region of
Mali
Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...
, lying northeast of
Hombori and southwest of
Gao
Gao (or Gawgaw/Kawkaw) is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley.
For much of its history Gao was an imp ...
. The town is just to the west of the main RN15 highway that links
Mopti with Gao. It is on a seasonal lake,
Mare de Gossi, and is surrounded by
nature reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...
s in which a large herd of
elephant
Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...
s live.
The town is the site of a large cattle
market. The commune contains around 31 villages and in the 2009 census, it had a population of 24,521. Around 90% of the population are nomadic pastoralists but there are permanent settlements around
Lake Gossi,
Lake Ebanguemalène and
Lake Agoufou.
The French Military ceded its control of a base in Gossi to the Malian Army in April 2022.
Incidents
In May of 2013, the bodies of two
Tuareg
The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym, depending on variety: ''Imuhaɣ'', ''Imušaɣ'', ''Imašeɣăn'' or ''Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group, traditionally nomadic pastoralists, who principally inhabit th ...
men were found just outside of Gossi. Just hours earlier they were stripped naked and trampled on by soldiers, only to be released at the request of a soldier who was a relative. The Minister of Defence attributed the killings to the
Ganda Koy- a militia that works with the support of local authorities.
On 24 July 2014, a
McDonnell Douglas MD-83 aircraft flying
Air Algérie
Air Algérie SpA (, ) is the flag carrier of Algeria, with its head office in the El-Djazair office block in Algiers. With flights operating mostly from Houari Boumedienne Airport in Algiers and Ahmed Ben Bella Airport in Oran, Air Algérie op ...
Flight 5017
crashed southeast of Gossi with 116 people on board. The flight had left
Ouagadougou
Ouagadougou or Wagadugu (, , , ) is the capital city of Burkina Faso, and the administrative, communications, cultural and economic centre of the nation. It is also the List of cities in Burkina Faso#Largest cities, country's largest city, wi ...
and was headed to
Algiers
Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...
. Initial reports suggested a
sandstorm might have been to blame.
Gossi was also the site of the capture of Mimi Ould Baba Ould El Mokhtar, believed to be responsible for
a terrorist attack in Grand-Bassam, by
French military forces.
In March 2022, the French military released video evidence of Russian mercenaries burying about a dozen bodies of Malians near the Gossi military base.
References
External links
*.
Communes of Tombouctou Region
{{Tombouctou-geo-stub