African Union calls for urgent action in Mali amid insurgency

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — JNIM fighters are seen in a screenshot from a video published by the Al Qaeda-linked Az-Zallaqa propaganda network (via Foundation for Defense of Democracies - FDD)

BAMAKO  -  The African Union has called for an urgent international response, including intelligence-sharing, to address worsening security conditions in Mali, where insurgents are imposing a fuel blockade and kidnapping foreigners.

An Al Qaeda-linked jihadist group active in West Africa's Sahel region has blocked fuel imports since September, attacking convoys of tankers and creating a shortage that forced schools and businesses to shut.

The latest show of force by the group, Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, has raised concern that it might eventually try to impose its rule over the landlocked country. Western countries including the U.S., France, Britain and Italy are urging their citizens to leave. 

ATTACKS ON MILITARY POSTS

In a statement on Sunday, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, chairperson of the African Union Commission, expressed "deep concern over the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Mali, where terrorist groups have imposed blockades, disrupted access to essential supplies, and severely worsened humanitarian conditions for civilian populations".

He said there should be "enhanced cooperation, intelligence-sharing and sustained support" for countries in the Sahel affected by violent extremism.

The African Union suspended Mali after the 2021 coup that brought the country's current leader, Assimi Goita, to power. The military-led governments of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have withdrawn from the West African regional bloc ECOWAS, distanced themselves from Western allies and turned to Russia for military support.    

JNIM claims to have killed hundreds of soldiers in attacks on military installations in those three countries this year. Their governments have not commented on the toll.

On Monday, a media unit for JNIM said its fighters had killed 48 soldiers and wounded more than 100 others in an attack on a military post in Soumpi in the northern Timbuktu region.

A Malian military spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

THREE EGYPTIANS KIDNAPPED

JNIM has targeted foreign nationals for kidnapping to finance its operations in West Africa. 

Youssouf of the African Union also called in his statement on Sunday for the immediate release of three Egyptians he said were recently seized.

Reuters reported in October that a deal was reached to free two citizens of the United Arab Emirates in exchange for a ransom payment of roughly $50 million.

Schools reopened in the capital Bamako on Monday, a Reuters witness said, after being suspended for two weeks because of the fuel shortage. 

 (Reporting by Mali newsroom and Bate Felix; Writing by Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Robbie Corey-Boulet and Alex Richardson // REUTERS)