At home with the Cisses: What awaits the Mali mother-of-nine when she returns home?

Although Mali’s government is taking every measure to care for the new family, some local organisations are concerned about the state’s ability to provide long-term care, reports Simon Speakman Cordall

Halima Cisse went into hospital expecting seven babies... and gave birth to five girls and four boys (Halima Cisse)

Malian mother Halima Cisse and her nine babies are due to stay in Morocco for at least the next few months while the babies remain in incubators. From there, she will return to the troubled West African country of Mali to reunite with her husband, Kader Arby, a non-commissioned officer in the country’s army.

At present, the 25-year-old Malian is among only a handful of women to have given birth to nonuplets, five girls and four boys, two more than originally anticipated. Should all survive the next few critical months, as medical staff at the Ain Borja clinic in Casablanca hope, she will enter the record books.

The birth presented Mali’s embattled transitional government, in power since a coup during the summer of last year, with both challenge and opportunity.