The following information was provided during a telephone interview on 6 October 1997 by the President of the Association of Malian Jurists (Association des juristes maliennes, AJM), an association that runs a legal clinic offering legal assistance to people, especially Malian women, who are having problems with Malian family law.

The Wahhabi movement is a fundamentalist Muslim movement. It has much greater representation in the urban centres than in the countryside. The Wahhabis have access to significant financial resources, and the movement is becoming more widespread; new members are very quickly recruited, particularly from among young people who face very high levels of unemployment and receive small gifts. Several sources claim that financing of this movement comes from outside, notably from certain Arab countries. The President of the AJM stated that her legal clinic is seeing more and more women who are victims of the fundamentalist environment they live in. They frequently complain, for example, that their husbands and their fathers are forcing them to stay at home; forcing them into marriages; requiring them to cover their head and face and to attend only Koran schools (the Medlefa); and refusing to allow them to watch television and listen to the radio.

According to Radicalismes islamiques, [translation] "the Wahhabis are the most radical of the Islamic movements, distinguished by the desire for a complete break with all non-Muslims" (1986, 162). Attached are extracts which give the history of these movements in Malian society.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Association des juristes maliennes (AJM), Bamako. 6 October 1997. Telephone interview with President.

Radicalismes islamiques. Maroc, Pakistan, Inde, Yougoslavie, Mali. 1986. Vol. 2. Olivier Carré et Pierre Dumont. Paris: Éditions L'Harmattan.

Radicalismes islamiques. Maroc, Pakistan, Inde, Yougoslavie, Mali. 1986. Vol. 2. Olivier Carré et Pierre Dumont. Paris: Éditions L'Harmattan, pp. 162-178.