Bamako, Mali

Wednesday, October 29, 2025

In Mali, every entry into Bamako by army-escorted tanker trucks is now a feat, the result of a month-long jihadist blockade on fuel imported from neighboring countries, the shortage of which is beginning to severely disrupt this landlocked Sahelian country. Since September, the Islamic and Muslim Support Group (JNIM), affiliated with Al-Qaeda, has been attacking fuel tankers coming mainly from Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire, through which most of Mali’s imports transit.

According to JNIM, this is in retaliation for the Malian authorities’ ban on the sale of fuel outside gas stations in rural areas, where fuel is transported in jerry cans to be sold later. The measure was intended to dry up the jihadists’ supply lines, according to the authorities.

Despite escorts from the Malian army, several trucks were set on fire and drivers and soldiers were killed or kidnapped in jihadist ambushes.

The JNIM “is thus seeking to suffocate (the Malian capital) Bamako by cutting off its logistical arteries,” according to an analysis at the end of September by the Dakar-based think tank Timbuktu Institute.

– Security stockpile “exhausted” –

After a month of jihadist blockade, the security stockpile of the National Office of Petroleum Products (ONAP), which was supposed to cover three days of national consumption, is now “exhausted” because it has already been injected into the distribution circuit, according to the agency.

“Last week, a dozen tankers were burned on the road to Ivory Coast. This has had a huge impact on our forecasts. To date, we have no visibility on when the shortage will end and when the country will be properly supplied,” the ONAP added.

Bamako, the capital, which was previously spared the shortage thanks to its priority status in terms of supply, is now affected, as is the interior of the country, where the shortage has been ongoing for several days.

“We have made it clear to the authorities that we cannot guarantee supplies to the regions. The priority is really Bamako and its users,” said an official from the oil professionals’ association.

Since Monday, long lines of cars and motorcyclists and crowds of users with jerry cans have been visible in front of the few stations still open in the Malian capital.

“Yesterday (Monday), I spent the whole afternoon waiting in line and found nothing. This morning, unfortunately, I can’t go out to make deliveries,” said a tricycle driver.

“Since Monday, I’ve had all kinds of difficulties. I had to push my motorcycle from the Djicoroni neighborhood to Badalabougou, about nine kilometers, without any fuel,” explains another.

According to the oil professionals’ association, “fuel will arrive in dribs and drabs” because “tankers can only leave with the authorization of military escorts,” which are irregular and constantly under attack.

“Power supply at a standstill” –

The shortage is exacerbating the severe and recurring power cuts that have been crippling Mali’s economy for five years, as the country’s energy is mainly thermal.

Electricity supply has been reduced from 19 hours a day to six hours in some areas “to allow oil companies to serve gas stations first,” says an official from the Mali Energy Company.

“In some inland cities, the power supply has been shut down due to a lack of fuel for our generators. In Bamako, we only supply power for six hours a day,” he added.

“We haven’t had electricity for more than two weeks in San,” said a resident of this city in southwestern Mali.

“Before, my refrigerator stayed cold all day. Now, with power cuts that can last 20 hours, my fish stock is rotting (…). My business is dying,” lamented a saleswoman in Mopti (center).

In Ségou (central Mali), “to get fuel, you have to queue up early in the morning at 6 a.m. and hope to get some at 3 p.m.,” said one resident.

The public prosecutor’s office of the Bamako Court of Appeal said in a statement on Wednesday evening that it had observed that “certain ill-intentioned individuals are engaging in unjustified speculation and illegal price gouging” on petroleum products.

It ordered all prosecutors in the country to “crack down with the utmost severity” on these practices and the “dissemination of biased information” on the situation.

Since Monday, butane gas has also been difficult to obtain in Bamako, according to reports on social media.

Faced with the shortage, the government on Tuesday extended its missions to escort trucks and control prices at gas stations.

“This is only temporary, and the situation will improve in the coming days,” Soumaïla Djitteye, deputy director general of trade, assured the press.

In mid-September, Malian Prime Minister Abdoulaye Maïga assured oil professionals: “Even if we have to go and fetch fuel on foot with spoons, we will do so. We have no other choice.”

Since 2012, Mali has been facing a security crisis fueled in particular by violence from #JNIM and the Islamic State in the Sahel.

Humaniterre with AFP