At least six Senegalese truckers have been kidnapped in western Mali, where a jihadist group has declared a transport blockade, Senegal’s government and the victims’ union said Friday.
The drivers and apprentices were taken on Thursday as they brought trade goods into Mali, where an al Qaeda-linked group known as the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) is fighting a rebellion.
Since 2012, Mali has been locked in a violent security crisis, with large parts of the country falling prey to criminal gangs and jihadists with ties to al Qaeda or the Islamic State group.
Mali also saw military coups in 2020 and 2021 and is today ruled by a military junta, which has struggled to counter groups like JNIM.
Business-owners in Mali told AFP on Friday that the group had declared a blockade in the west, disrupting road traffic from Senegal into the land-locked country.
A source close to Mali’s transport ministry said that the state would intervene to keep the roads open.
“Six of our Senegalese compatriots, all actors in the road transport sector, have been abducted in Mali by jihadist groups,” the Union of Road Haulage Operators of Senegal (URS) said.
Moustapha Njekk Sarre, the minister in charge of professional education and spokesman for the Senegalese government, confirmed the report to AFP but could add no details.
URS official Gora Khouma told AFP those abducted were two drivers and four apprentices taken on Thursday on a road axis in the Kayes area of western Mali.
Senegal has never seen a jihadist attack on its soil, but Islamist assaults were carried out on July 1 against Malian military positions in several towns in western Mali, near the border.
One of the targeted localities, Diboli, is fewer than 500 meters from the Senegalese town of Kidira. The attacks were claimed by the JNIM.
