Desperate search for fuel in Mali’s capital as al-Qaida-linked group enforces blockade

BAMAKO, Mali — Endless lines stretched in front of gas stations in Mali’s capital Bamako late into Monday night, as commuters desperately tried to find fuel. Residents are starting to feel the impact of a blockade on fuel imports to the city declared in early September by a militant group affiliated with al-Qaida.

Amadou Berthé, a bank employee in Bamako, said he traveled 20 kilometers (12 miles) by motorcycle taxi to find gas for his car, which broke down due to a lack of fuel as he was returning from work

“I’ve been to more than 20 gas stations and still can’t find any fuel,” Berthé said, sitting on the back of the motorcycle with an empty jerry can on his knees.

Militants from Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) have relentlessly attacked fuel tankers coming from neighboring Senegal and Ivory Coast, plunging the capital of the landlocked West African country into crisis. Despite being one of Africa’s top gold producers, Mali is ranked the sixth least developed nation in the world, with nearly half its population living below the national poverty line.

Some oil importers in Mali have started to use alternative ways of bringing fuel into the country in order to protect their staff and their businesses.

“I transport fuel in my tankers from Dakar (the capital of Senegal) to the border with Mali, where I sell it to traders who then take the risk of bringing it into Mali,” a Malian fuel importer, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals, told the AP.

“Of course, I don’t earn much, but it’s the only way I’ve found to keep my employees and tanker trucks safe,” the importer said.

Analysts say the blockade poses huge risks for the fragile local economy and is a significant setback for Mali’s military junta, which took power in 2021 promising to improve security.

Instead, attacks from militants linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have intensified in recent months.

Beverly Ochieng, an analyst at the Control Risks Group consulting firm, said 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.

JNIM is one of several armed groups operating in the Sahel, a vast strip of semi-arid desert stretching from North Africa to West Africa, where an insurgency is spreading rapidly with large-scale attacks.

In a report released last month, the Malian Petroleum Importers Association said over 100 tanker trucks had been burned and destroyed by JNIM fighters.

Videos on social media in recent weeks show what appears to be truck drivers being held hostage by JNIM and calling for their release. The Associated Press was unable to independently verify the footage.

According to their relatives, some tanker drivers were also 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.

In a press release, the Ivorian company CIVOTECH confirmed the deaths of two fuel tanker drivers and an apprentice driver on Sept. 21 in the Sikasso region.

In response to the embargo, the Malian army has started escorting some truck convoys on the roads between Bamako and the borders with Senegal and Ivory Coast.

In a statement on Monday, the army said it destroyed the hideouts of the JNIM fighters responsible for a recent attack on a tanker convoy in the Kolondiéba area, near the border with Ivory Coast.