The United States Embassy in Mali has issued an urgent advisory urging all American citizens to leave the country immediately due to escalating terrorist threats and a worsening fuel crisis triggered by a jihadi blockade.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the embassy advised US citizens to depart using commercial flights, warning that overland travel is unsafe because of frequent terrorist attacks along national highways.
The alert is the second in three days, following an earlier warning that highlighted the growing risks of crime, terrorism, and kidnappings across the West African nation.
The al-Qaida-affiliated militant group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) announced in September that it had blocked fuel tankers from entering Mali as part of its campaign against the country’s ruling military junta. Fighters have reportedly set more than 100 trucks ablaze, cutting off vital fuel supplies and worsening economic hardships.
The blockade has caused widespread disruption, forcing the closure of schools and universities and bringing much of the country’s transportation system to a halt.
JNIM is among several extremist groups operating across the Sahel region a vast belt of territory stretching from North Africa to West Africa where insurgencies have intensified, deepening instability and worsening the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
