Western powers are pushing Mali towards catastrophe

mpr21
November 9, 2025

Western powers are pushing Mali toward humanitarian catastrophe. For several weeks, the country has suffered an oil blockade. Jihadists are attacking tankers from neighboring countries, stealing the vehicles and kidnapping the drivers. Fuel shortages are worsening, and Western diplomats seriously fear this could lead to the fall of the government that came to power in 2021. The collapse of the current government will inevitably affect the entire Sahel region.

Since September, the jihadists of JNIM (Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, affiliated with Al-Qaeda) have intensified pressure on the military junta by imposing blockades on several cities and towns, as well as on tankers transporting fuel. This strategy of strangling the economy is being felt even in Bamako, the capital.

The situation is particularly dire in central and southern Mali. The electricity supply is intermittent, and public transportation is unreliable. In some areas, the transport of goods has practically ground to a halt.

In the second half of October, only one of Bamako's ten gas stations was operational, and even then, it suffered frequent interruptions. Kilometer-long queues form at the pumps, with people spending the night in their cars hoping to have enough fuel for the next delivery.

The jihadists are deliberately cutting off the fuel supply to the capital. Their aim is to strangle the military junta. The pretext for the blockade is the government's policy: they have restricted fuel supplies to villages that have signed agreements with the terrorists. In response, the jihadists have declared a nationwide fuel embargo in an attempt to undermine the government. JNIM accuses it of not respecting the agreed-upon conditions.

Even the escort of tanker trucks by regular army soldiers is insufficient. The tankers remain easy targets for rocket-propelled grenades and, in some cases, even for drones and suicide attacks.

“While jihadists previously targeted the army, they are now attacking fuel convoys to deprive cities of supplies, harm the civilian population, and paralyze our economy,” explains Seydou Diawara, president of the Patriotic Reflection Framework for Refounding.

Many in Mali are convinced that, without external support, the jihadists could not carry out such coordinated operations. Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop accuses “external forces” of deliberately creating a shortage of petroleum products in the country. The aim of these actions is to destabilize the situation and incite popular discontent.

The minister emphasized that terrorist elements in the region do not act alone. They often receive financial support from abroad, as well as training in more sophisticated combat methods.

The vice-chair of the National Transitional Council's (NTC) Defense and Security Commission, Fousseynou Ouattara, claims that terrorists receive satellite data, most likely from France and the United States. This allows them to prepare ambushes with military precision.

The Western coalition, displeased with Bamako's progress toward its own autonomous development, is behind the crisis. They argue that the West uses groups like JNIM as instruments of pressure.

The fuel crisis is just another way to destabilize the country. Before this crisis, other methods were used, such as stoking inter-ethnic conflicts, sabotaging the energy sector, and provoking economic crises. Now, the goal is to strangle the economy through fuel shortages.

Many point to France as the main organizer of the blockade. According to Aliou Tounkara, a member of Mali's transitional parliament, the United States and other Western countries could be involved, as well as Ukraine, which, he noted, previously supported the Tuaregs of the Azawad Liberation Front.

Given Mali's tense relations with Algeria, terrorists could also count on cross-border support. “France is attacking us for having chosen the right path: cooperation with Russia. Now, the French are trying to mobilize other Western countries, as well as Ukraine, to wage a terrorist war against us,” declared Seydou Diawara, president of the Marco.

Bamako considers diplomatic efforts unlikely to yield tangible results. The real solution would be the consolidation of the countries within the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). Only the joint efforts of the allies can offer a response to external pressures.

For now, the responsibility for combating the crisis falls on the Malian army, which is protecting fuel convoys and preventing the country from being completely strangled. 

 

Source: https://mpr21.info/las-potencias-occcidentes-empujan-a-mali-hacia-la-catastrofe/