In Mali, the stranglehold imposed by the Jnim, an al-Qaïda-linked jihadist faction, has reached a new intensity. Over the past weekend, at least a dozen passenger buses were torched along the critical Ségou-Bamako corridor, the primary supply artery feeding the capital from the east. Simultaneously, electrical infrastructure tied to the Manantali hydroelectric dam in the Kayes region suffered deliberate sabotage, plunging entire districts into darkness. While Malian armed forces continue counteroffensives across multiple fronts, the economic noose around Bamako tightens unrelentingly.
Manantali: the dam as a weapon of attrition
The assault on Manantali’s transmission lines is no isolated incident. Operated under a tripartite agreement between Mali, Mauritania, and Senegal through the Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Sénégal (OMVS), the dam anchors Mali’s urban power grid. By crippling its evacuation network, Jnim no longer targets security forces alone; it strikes at the heart of the nation’s economic lifeblood. Blackouts paralyze public services, shutter businesses, and idle factories within hours, turning electricity into a tactical weapon.
This campaign began weeks ago with systematic ambushes on fuel convoys entering from Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire. The jihadists are weaponizing scarcity, gambling that chronic fuel shortages will erode public confidence in the transitional government led by General Assimi Goïta. Once relatively insulated, Bamako now sits at the epicenter of a war of exhaustion.
Armed forces counterattacks and fragile supply lines
In response, the Malian military claims sustained ground and aerial operations across several regions. Military escorts have escorted hundreds of tanker trucks into Bamako in recent days, easing pressure on gas stations—but the reprieve is temporary. Each convoy demands substantial resources, and the prospect of securing the nation’s highways over the long term remains distant.
The Armed Forces of Mali (FAMa) face a pincer movement. In western and central zones, Jnim escalates ambushes and infrastructure strikes. To the north, in the Kidal region, tensions simmer in a tense stalemate, with fresh clashes likely against factions of the Cadre stratégique permanent. Bamako now navigates two divergent battlefields with dwindling manpower and materiel.
The widening ripple effect across West Africa
The blockade has transcended Mali’s borders. Neighboring economies—Senegal, Mauritania, and Côte d’Ivoire—watch with growing alarm as trade corridors across the Sahel fray. Slowing goods flows burden ports in Dakar and Abidjan, much of whose inland traffic once routed through Malian arteries. The Confédération des États du Sahel, uniting Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, struggles to forge a unified response to the jihadists’ economic warfare.
The Manantali strikes also raise cross-border stakes. Further damage risks cutting electricity exports to Senegal and Mauritania, transforming a Malian crisis into a regional emergency. International partners—donors and military suppliers alike—now face a stark choice: bolster Bamako’s sovereignty or prioritize the protection of shared critical infrastructure.
On the ground, the contrast between military claims of progress and the reality of a city under siege underscores the conflict’s evolving brutality. Jnim is no longer merely contesting territory; it is suffocating a state from within.
