KIGALI, Rwanda – African Union Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf issued a stark warning on Sunday, November 9, 2025, urging an immediate and unified global response to the spiraling security and humanitarian catastrophe engulfing Mali. In a formal statement released from the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Youssouf highlighted the "rapidly deteriorating security situation" where jihadist groups, primarily linked to Al-Qaeda's affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), have enforced crippling blockades on vital supply routes, severed access to food, fuel, and medical essentials, and plunged millions into acute distress. This escalation, he emphasized, not only threatens Mali's fragile stability but also risks destabilizing the broader Sahel region, a belt of nations already battered by extremism, coups, and climate-induced vulnerabilities.
Youssouf's intervention comes at a pivotal moment for the West African nation, which has been under military rule since back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021. The junta, led by Colonel Assimi Goïta, initially seized power promising to restore order amid rampant insurgencies. However, the withdrawal of longstanding international partners like the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) in late 2023, coupled with the expulsion of French forces in 2022 and a pivot toward Russian-backed mercenaries from the Africa Corps, has left security forces overstretched and increasingly ineffective. JNIM, exploiting this vacuum, declared a blockade in early September 2025 on key trade corridors from Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire, targeting fuel tankers and commercial convoys with ambushes and improvised explosives. By mid-October, the stranglehold had paralyzed Bamako, Mali's bustling capital of over 2.6 million residents, where long queues at ration points and black-market fuel prices soaring to triple digits have become grim daily realities.
The blockade's ripple effects have been devastating. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on November 7, 2025, that over 1.2 million people in central and northern Mali now face acute food insecurity, with malnutrition rates among children under five spiking to emergency levels in regions like Mopti and Timbuktu. Schools and universities across the country were ordered closed indefinitely by the Ministry of Education on October 28, 2025, citing "unprecedented security risks and logistical collapse." Power outages, lasting up to 20 hours daily in urban centers, have crippled hospitals, water pumping stations, and cold-chain systems vital for vaccine storage, exacerbating a cholera outbreak that has claimed 312 lives since August, according to Mali’s Ministry of Health.
Youssouf condemned in the strongest terms a series of deadly attacks that have claimed dozens of civilian lives in recent weeks. On October 31, 2025, JNIM militants overran a military outpost near the town of Douentza, killing 42 soldiers and seizing heavy weaponry, including armored vehicles and anti-aircraft guns. Days later, on November 4, a suicide bombing at a crowded market in Gao left 19 civilians dead and 57 wounded, marking the deadliest single incident in the city since 2022. The AU chairperson described these acts as "barbaric and indefensible," stressing that they constitute grave violations of international humanitarian law and must be met with accountability.
Particular outrage was reserved for the abduction of three Egyptian nationals—two engineers and a technician—working on a solar energy project near the town of Niono on October 25, 2025. JNIM claimed responsibility in a video released on November 3, demanding the release of imprisoned fighters in exchange for the hostages. Youssouf demanded their "immediate and unconditional release," warning that such kidnappings not only terrorize foreign workers but also deter critical investment in infrastructure and development, further entrenching poverty and despair.
In his statement, Youssouf reaffirmed the African Union’s solidarity with the Malian government and people, pledging continued support through the AU’s Peace and Security Council and the G5 Sahel Joint Force framework, despite the latter’s functional suspension following the withdrawal of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger in 2024. He called for a "robust, coordinated, and coherent international response" to counter terrorism and violent extremism, specifically advocating for enhanced intelligence sharing, joint cross-border operations, and sustained logistical and financial support to affected states. "The Sahel is at a crossroads," he warned. "Inaction today will breed chaos tomorrow, with consequences that no border can contain."
The crisis has prompted swift reactions from Western governments. On November 6, 2025, the U.S. Department of State updated its travel advisory to Level 4: Do Not Travel, urging all American citizens to depart Mali immediately via commercial flights still operating from Bamako-Sénou International Airport. The United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office followed suit on November 7, issuing a similar evacuation advisory and suspending consular services in the country. France, Mali’s former colonial power, went further on November 8, announcing the temporary closure of its embassy in Bamako and facilitating the departure of non-essential staff and French nationals. These moves underscore the international community’s growing alarm over the junta’s diminishing control outside the capital and the jihadists’ expanding operational reach.
Humanitarian organizations have sounded the alarm over a looming catastrophe. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported on November 5, 2025, that its convoys attempting to deliver aid to blockaded towns in the Ménaka region were turned back three times in a single week due to active combat and mined roads. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned that fuel shortages have forced the closure of 14 health centers in the Ségou region alone, leaving pregnant women and malaria patients without care. The World Food Programme (WFP) appealed for $182 million in emergency funding on November 1, stating that current stocks would be depleted by mid-December without urgent replenishment.
Amid the chaos, voices from within Mali paint a picture of resilience tempered by exhaustion. A teacher in Bamako, speaking anonymously to Reuters on November 8, 2025, said, "We closed the schools not because of bombs, but because children were fainting from hunger in class. How do you teach geometry on an empty stomach?" A market vendor in Gao told Agence France-Presse the same day, "Fuel is gold now. One liter costs more than a day’s wages. We are prisoners in our own city."
As the African Union rallies continental and global support, the path forward remains fraught. Analysts warn that without a recalibration of the junta’s security strategy—potentially including reconciliation with ousted regional partners like ECOWAS and a reassessment of reliance on Wagner successors—the blockade could harden into a prolonged siege. For now, the people of Mali endure a triple crisis of power, provision, and protection, with the specter of famine and further bloodshed looming large.
The African Union has scheduled an emergency session of the Peace and Security Council for November 14, 2025, in Addis Ababa to deliberate on Mali and formulate a unified continental stance. Whether this will translate into tangible action—or merely another declaration in a long line of unmet promises—remains to be seen. But for the millions trapped in the crosshairs of insurgency and isolation, time is a luxury they no longer possess.
