BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — The U.S. Embassy in Mali told American citizens Tuesday to leave the country by plane because of the threats of terrorism and a severe fuel crisis stemming from a jihadi group’s blockade of fuel tankers entering the landlocked West African nation.
“U.S. citizens should depart using commercial aviation, as overland routes to neighboring countries may not be safe for travel due to terrorist attacks along national highways,” the U.S. Embassy in Bamako said on its website.
It was the embassy’s second alert in three days after an Oct. 25 advisory for U.S. citizens not to travel to Mali due to “crime, terrorism, kidnapping” and other reasons.
The al-Qaida-linked Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin group, or JNIM, announced in September that it was imposing a blockade on tanker trucks entering Mali as part of its fight against the country’s military authorities. The group’s fighters have set more than 100 trucks on fire, paralyzing the country’s fuel supply.
The government has announced the closure of schools and universities nationwide because of the disruptions to travel caused by the fuel shortage.
JNIM is one of several armed groups operating in the Sahel, a vast strip of semi-arid desert stretching from North Africa to West Africa, where an insurgency is spreading rapidly with large-scale attacks.
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