The economic siege by the JNIM group has brought the capital to a standstill, with petrol prices soaring 500% and the U.S. government urging its citizens to leave immediately.
Life in Mali’s capital, Bamako has been strangled by a severe fuel blockade imposed by an Al-Qaeda-linked group, triggering a U.S. order for its citizens to evacuate and deepening the crisis facing the country’s military rulers.
The United States Embassy in Bamako on Tuesday issued a security alert urging American citizens to “depart immediately on commercially available flights,” warning that the blockade is making daily life increasingly precarious and that “terrorist attacks along national highways” make overland travel too dangerous.
The alert marks a sharp escalation in international concern over the stability of the Sahel nation, which has been under military rule since a 2020 coup. The embassy advised those who remain to prepare contingency plans for sheltering in place indefinitely.
The source of the crisis is an economic siege enacted last month by Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM). The group, which controls vast rural areas, imposed the blockade in retaliation for the military government’s ban on fuel sales in the countryside, a move aimed at curtailing the militants’ mobility.
The strategy appears to be succeeding in turning public anger against the authorities. Across Bamako, serpentine queues of vehicles form daily at the handful of petrol stations still operating, with tempers flaring as supplies run dry.
“The government needs to take full responsibility and act, to… uncover the real reason for this shortage,” said Omar Sidibe, a frustrated driver waiting in line, in an interview with Who Owns Africa.
The scarcity has caused prices to skyrocket. According to a media report, the price of fuel has shot up by 500%, from approximately $25 to $130 per litre on the black market. This has had a devastating knock-on effect, crippling transportation, commerce, and daily life.
Capital Paralyzed as Crisis Deepens
The paralysis is palpable. Schools and universities have been shuttered for two weeks. Airlines are increasingly cancelling flights to and from Bamako’s international airport, further isolating the country. For ordinary citizens, the search for fuel has become a desperate, full-time endeavor.
“Before, we could buy gas everywhere in cans. But now there’s no more,” Bakary Coulibaly, a gas reseller, said. “We’re forced to come to gas stations, and even if we go there, it’s not certain that there will be gasoline available. Only a few stations have it.”
The military government, which first seized power promising to secure the country from a spiraling insurgency, has insisted publicly that “everything is under control.” Yet, years later, the security crisis has only escalated. The fighting has resulted in thousands of deaths, and the United Nations estimates that up to 350,000 people are currently displaced internally.
The repercussions of the blockade extend beyond Mali’s borders. From a tense fuel pit stop in Dakar, Senegal, Who Owns Africa reported on truck drivers with empty tanks who have been waiting for months, afraid to make the dangerous journey through JNIM-controlled territory. Haque reported that some transport companies have been accused of paying the Al-Qaeda-linked fighters for safe passage for their trucks, a claim we could not independently verify.
The crisis underscores the complex challenges facing the junta. In a pivot away from its traditional allies, the military government severed ties with its former colonial ruler, France, leading to the withdrawal of thousands of French troops who had been assisting in the fight against armed groups.
That vacuum has been filled by the Russian private military company Wagner Group, which now provides security to the junta. However, the fuel blockade demonstrates the militants’ enduring capacity to exert pressure not just through violence, but through economic warfare, directly challenging the state’s authority and its ability to provide for its citizens.
As the siege continues with no clear resolution in sight, the people of Bamako are left grappling with a stark new reality—one where the basic ability to move and function is held hostage by a conflict that shows no signs of abating.
