Passengers gather near informal motorised canoes ready to ferry passengers across the River Niger that divides Benin and Niger in the town of Malanville on September 18, 2023. PHOTO | AFP
Regular passengers of the "Tombouctou", a ferry whose route runs along the Niger River in northern Mali, are accustomed to hearing gunfire from the riverbank during their journeys.
But on September 7, they quickly realised that something unusual was happening.
