Mali’s fuel running dry after a month of jihadist blockades

IN MALI, a month-long blockade by jihadists on fuel imports from neighbouring countries is beginning to seriously disrupt the landlocked Sahelian nation, where long lines form at the few remaining stations with petrol.

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Since September, the jihadists have targeted fuel tankers, particularly those coming from Senegal and Ivory Coast, through which the majority of Mali’s imported goods transit.

Despite a military escort, the enormous trucks’ arrival in the capital Bamako is now a feat, with many having been set on fire, and drivers and soldiers killed or kidnapped in jihadist ambushes.

The resulting fuel shortages have become a massive disruption for Malians’ day-to-day life.

“I spent all afternoon in queues and found nothing,” a driver said. “This morning, unfortunately, I can’t go out to make deliveries.”

The jihadists, from the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), are retaliating against the authorities’ ban on the sale of fuel at locations other than service stations in rural areas.

The move was meant to dry up the jihadists’ fuel supply lines, according to authorities.

“The group is thus seeking to suffocate Bamako by cutting off its logistical arteries,” the Dakar-based think tank Timbuktu Institute said late last month.