Mali’s Fuel Crisis Gets Worse As Bamako Is Choked by an Al-Qaida-Linked Blockade

Residents of Mali’s capital are rushing as shortages intensify due to the mayhem caused by militants’ blockade of fuel shipments.

In the midst of an increasingly dire situation brought on by an al-Qaida-affiliated militant blockade on fuel imports, residents of Bamako, the capital of Mali, waited in long queues at petrol stations Tuesday.

Early in September, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) announced the blockage, which has caused businesses and commuters to struggle as supplies run out. Reselling gasoline from a roadside stand, Bakary Coulibaly said he was having more and more trouble finding fuel. “Only a handful of stations have it,” he stated.

At one gas station, automobiles and motorcycles were packed in long lines, and people were fighting and arguing for a chance to fill up.

Motorcycle taxi driver Douga Barry stated that he was resolved to face the challenge. “Regardless of the circumstances, we are prepared to fight the battle because we are aware that it is happening. We’re prepared to walk, even if it means stopping our motorcycles,” he remarked.

Tanker convoys from neighboring Senegal and Ivory Coast have been attacked by JNIM militants, cutting off vital supply routes to the landlocked West African nation. The upheaval has caused chaos in Bamako and exacerbated the city’s already dire economic situation.

Mali is still the sixth least developed country in the world, with almost half of its people living below the poverty line, despite being one of Africa’s top producers of gold.

The blockage, according to analysts, threatens the fragile economy and damages the reputation of Mali’s military junta, which took control in 2021 on assurances of security restoration. Rather, in recent months, attacks by groups affiliated with Islamic State and al-Qaida have increased.

A survey by the Malian Petroleum Importers Association last month revealed that over 100 fuel tankers had been burnt and destroyed by JNIM fighters.

The Malian army has responded by starting to guard truck convoys traveling between Bamako and the Ivory Coast and Senegal borders. The military said on Monday that it had destroyed JNIM hideouts linked to a recent attack on a fuel truck in Kolondiéba, near the Ivorian border.