Islamist blockade tightens grip on Mali’s capital
More than three million people in Bamako are facing a deepening crisis as Islamist militants tighten a blockade around Mali’s capital, leaving residents stranded, supply routes severed, and the country’s military government under its most severe pressure in years.
The group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) issued a stark warning on Wednesday, “no-one will be allowed in any more”, and has since moved to enforce it. Eyewitnesses say at least three of the six main roads into the city are being shut down for hours at a stretch, with fighters moving between routes to maintain pressure. Some vehicles manage to slip through during brief windows, but for many, the wait has stretched into days.
Among those stranded is a mother of two, caught on the Bamako-Kéniéba highway after visiting her parents outside the city. “Our army isn’t capable of protecting us, how are we going to get back home?” she told the BBC. A lorry driver attempting to reach the capital described the situation as unlike anything he had encountered in years on the road. “I’ve never seen something like this before. I’ve been doing this job for so many years. I’m stuck here and it sounds dangerous. I would rather run away to save my life than fight for the goods I have to deliver. I’ve never thought like this before.”
The blockade follows a weekend of nationwide coordinated attacks by an alliance of jihadists and separatist rebels operating under the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), which is seeking to topple the military government of General Assimi Goïta, who came to power in a 2020 coup. Among the casualties was Defence Minister Sadio Camara, killed in what appeared to be a suicide truck bombing on his residence near Bamako. He was buried Thursday before thousands of mourners, including Goïta himself, under heavy security.
The crisis has also spread beyond the capital. Ségou, a town roughly 80 kilometres away, is under total blockade, with hundreds of vehicles and passengers, families, traders, bus travelers stranded for days with limited access to food and water.
Mali’s army has been fighting the insurgency alongside Russia’s Africa Corps, the successor to the Wagner Group. But the offensive has exposed the limits of that partnership. Russian forces were compelled to withdraw from the northern city of Kidal, which has since fallen under FLA control. The rebels say they intend to march on other northern cities and are demanding a full withdrawal of Russian forces from the country. Moscow, however, is standing firm, a Kremlin spokesperson said Thursday that Russian forces would remain in Mali “to combat extremism, terrorism and other harmful phenomena and will continue to provide assistance to the current government.”
Goïta, following an emergency security council meeting, vowed tough action and claimed his forces had inflicted “heavy losses” on the rebels. But outside analysts are less convinced. Alain Antil, director of the Sub-Saharan Africa Centre at French think-tank Ifri, told the BBC that the developments signal a government struggling to maintain control. “Those moves show that the regime is weak and can’t restore security,” he said.
The deteriorating situation has prompted several Western governments, including France, Canada, and the United Kingdom, to urge their nationals to leave the country. The United States has advised its citizens to remain indoors. Not everyone is heeding the warnings. One French resident told the BBC she had no intention of leaving. “I love Mali. It has become a part of me since I came here in 2002. We’ll stay with my family. We know things will be OK.”
Source: BBC
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