France has advised its citizens in Mali to leave as soon as possible, as Islamist insurgents continue their blockade of the country.
The French foreign ministry urged citizens to depart on commercial flights while they are still available and to avoid overland travel.
A two-month-old fuel blockade on Mali, imposed by an al-Qaeda-affiliated group, has upended daily life in the capital, Bamako, and other regions of the landlocked West African country—a former French colony.
This announcement coincides with MSC—the world's largest shipping company—halting its operations in Mali, citing the blockade and deteriorating security.
The jihadist group Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) has caused the obstruction by attacking tankers on major highways. As Mali has no coast, all fuel supplies are brought in by road from neighboring states such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.
Last month, the US embassy in Bamako announced that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families would leave Mali amid the crisis. The embassy indicated that fuel disruptions had affected electricity supply and could potentially jeopardize overall security.
Mali is currently ruled by a military junta led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who first seized power in a coup in 2020. The junta had popular support when it took power, promising to address the long-standing security crisis instigated by a separatist rebellion in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was later hijacked by Islamist militants.
The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been deployed in 2013 to address the worsening insurgency, but both have since departed, and the military government has employed Russian mercenaries to tackle the insecurity. Despite these measures, jihadist insurgency persists, and large parts of the north and east remain outside government control.
