BAMAKO (Reuters) -Motorists former long queues outside fuel stations in Mali’s capital Bamako on Wednesday following several days of closures and fears of a shortage after al Qaeda-linked insurgents imposed a blockade on fuel imports last month.
Many stations had since last week been forced to close or were able to supply only diesel – a pressure tactic applied on Mali’s military-led government by militant groups who analysts say want to cut off the landlocked country’s economic oxygen.
“We are telling all traders who import diesel and gasoline into Mali, whether from Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal, or Mauritania, to stop doing so until further notice,” a Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) militant spokesperson declared in a video announcing the blockade in early September.
FUEL TANKERS ARRIVED FROM IVORY COAST
In recent days, Shell, Total and Star stations in central Bamako were out of service, with only a few local stations able to serve motorcyclists, residents and Reuters witnesses said.
On Tuesday evening, Malian authorities announced that a convoy of fuel tankers had arrived from neighbouring Ivory Coast, and by Wednesday many of the stations in the city had reopened.
Videos circulating on social media appeared to show long queues in other Malian cities including Segou, Mopti and San.
“This morning I had to push my motorcycle due to the lack of fuel… From (the neighbourhood of) Faladji to Kalaban, I found nothing,” said one motorcyclist in Bamako. “If the state can find a solution to this problem, that would be good.”
Prime Minister Abdoulaye Maiga has convened a disaster management committee to secure the supply of convoys, state television reported last week.
Mali has faced instability since 2012, when Islamist militants hijacked a Tuareg rebellion in the north. The current military government took power after coups in 2020 and 2021, promising to improve security, which continues to deteriorate.
In mid-September, insurgents attacked a convoy of over 100 vehicles under military escort, destroying at least 40 fuel tankers.
The armed forces have been blocking fuel tankers from travelling to their destinations to prevent further attacks, including about 70 trucks destined for Allied Gold ‘s Sadiola mine in western Mali.
(Reporting by Mali newsroom and Portia Crowe in Dakar; Editing by Robbie Corey-Boulet and Timothy Heritage)
