11 Senegalese trucks en route to Mali set ablaze

Since the blockade of the Dakar-Bamako corridor, imposed by the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), truck drivers who use it are enduring a real ordeal. In comments reported by L’Observateur newspaper, the president of the Union of Truck Drivers of Senegal (URS), Daouda Lô, reported that at least eleven trucks have been burned and dozens of others stranded along the route.

Senegalese nationals are among the victims. But Daouda Lô was quick to clarify that his compatriots are not transporting fuel, an activity that JNIM does not tolerate, as it is determined to economically strangle Mali and slow trade in the sub-region. “This trafficking is entirely managed by the Malians themselves,” the president of the URS insists.

Faced with this situation, what are the Senegalese authorities doing to resolve the crisis? Daouda Lô suggested that Dakar is powerless. “If it were the Malian state that had blocked our trucks, our ambassador or our government could engage in dialogue with Bamako. But here, the Malian state, with whom we must speak, is itself more worried and overwhelmed than we are; and a state can only speak to another state, not to aggressors,” he told L’Observateur.