BAMAKO (Reuters) -Mali’s foreign minister has dismissed as implausible the notion that jihadists could soon take the capital, in the first extensive government response to security fears that have spurred Western countries to urge their citizens to leave.
The landlocked West African country is battling al Qaeda-linked jihadists who in September announced what they described as a fuel blockade that has led to long lines at petrol stations in the capital and temporarily forced schools to close.
The latest show of force by the group, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), has raised concern abroad that it might eventually try to impose its rule over the country.
The African Union on Sunday called for an urgent international response to worsening security conditions, and Western countries including the U.S., France, Britain and Italy are urging their citizens to leave.
Yet despite such concerns, many schools have reopened this week and Bamako is hosting a defence exhibition featuring Turkish firms.
Speaking at a press conference at the exhibition late on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said Mali was successfully mitigating the effects of the fuel blockade and that JNIM was “no match” for the security forces.
“We are very far from the scenario being described to you outside our country, saying that the terrorists are here, they are in Bamako, they are going to take this, that,” he said. “We are not at all in that scenario.”
Those making such predictions “need to wake up from their dreams,” he said.
The goal of the attempted blockade, he said, was to incite unrest that would lead to the overthrow of the military-led government that took power after coups in 2020 and 2021.
Diop also said the African Union’s call for an international response, including intelligence-sharing, reflected a poor understanding of conditions on the ground.
And while he said he respected “the choice of certain countries that have asked their nationals to leave”, he stressed that Mali remains welcoming to foreigners.
The military-led governments of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have withdrawn from the West African regional bloc ECOWAS, distanced themselves from Western allies and turned to Russia for military support.
Diop said relations with the U.S. were improving under the Trump administration and that the two countries were engaged in “dialogue” on security and economic issues, without providing details.
(Reporting by Portia CroweWriting by Robbie Corey-BouletEditing by Gareth Jones)
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