BAMAKO, Mali (October 26, 2023) - A blockade enforced by militants linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group is plunging mali’s capital, Bamako, into a desperate search for fuel, disrupting commerce and raising fears of a wider humanitarian crisis. The armed group, Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), is targeting fuel tankers, burning trucks and killing drivers in an escalating campaign to pressure the government and isolate military authorities.
The blockade, which has intensified in recent months, aims to undermine the Malian government’s legitimacy by severing vital supply lines and forcing residents and commercial operators to distance themselves from the state. The crisis highlights the growing instability in the Sahel region, a vast semi-arid desert stretching across North and West Africa, where insurgencies are rapidly spreading.
According to the Malian Petroleum Importers Association, over 100 tanker trucks have been burned and destroyed by JNIM fighters since the blockade began. Videos circulating on social media appear to show JNIM holding truck drivers hostage, though the Associated Press has been unable to independently verify the footage. Relatives report that some drivers have been killed by the militants.
Lamine Kounta, a 38-year-old Bamako resident, said two of his cousins from Ivory Coast – a driver and his apprentice – were killed by JNIM fighters at the end of September in the Sikasso region, near the border with Ivory Coast. “They had nothing to do with this crisis or Mali. My cousins worked for an Ivorian road construction company and were in Mali to get equipment when they encountered JNIM fighters, who killed them,” he said. The Ivorian company CIVOTECH confirmed the deaths of the two fuel tanker drivers and an apprentice driver on Sept. 21 in the Sikasso region.
Beverly Ochieng, an analyst at the Control Risks Group consulting firm, explained that JNIM is strategically using the blockade to achieve its goals. “JNIM is using the blockade to pressure commercial operators and residents to distance themselves from the military authorities, therefore undermining the government’s legitimacy and authority,” she said.
In response to the embargo, the Malian army has begun escorting some truck convoys traveling between Bamako and the borders with Senegal and Ivory Coast.On Monday, the army announced it had destroyed JNIM hideouts believed to be used by the fighters responsible for a recent attack on a tanker convoy in the Kolondiéba area, near the border with Ivory Coast.
