Attaque de convoi au Mali: le syndicat des chauffeurs routiers décrète une grève
The national union of drivers and road transport operators in Mali (Synacor) declared a strike on Monday of their activities between Bamako and the Senegalese border to demand the repatriation of the bodies of their colleagues killed in the attack on a fuel convoy at the end of January, according to a statement.
At least 15 drivers - 18 according to some accounts gathered by AFP - were killed on January 29 in an attack attributed to jihadists against a convoy transporting fuel in western Mali, in which dozens of tanker trucks were destroyed.
According to Synacor, the bodies of these drivers have still not been repatriated.
During a general assembly of this union on Monday, drivers and truck drivers expressed their "dissatisfaction with the current situation," said the union's communications officer, Aboubacar Coulibaly, in a statement.
A work stoppage has been decided "until the repatriation of the bodies of (our) comrades left on the side of the road between Diboli (on the border of Senegal) and Kayes" (large city in western Mali).
Transport activities on the route from the capital Bamako to Kayes, Diboli and their surroundings are suspended, according to the statement.
"Unloading operations and all other activities are also suspended until further notice. Once a solution is found regarding the bodies left on the tarmac, we will resume work," the communications officer said in the statement.
Since September, jihadists from the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), affiliated with Al-Qaeda, have imposed a blockade on several Malian cities and regularly attacked these fuel convoys, suffocating the country's economy and its capital.
The attack that took place on January 29 on the road leading from the Senegalese border to Kayes marks a new intensification of offensives of this type in Mali after several weeks of calm.
According to a security source speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, "JNIM fighters stopped (the drivers) before executing them at point-blank range, while blindfolded."
This is the first time that jihadists have systematically killed truck drivers, although some had died in previous attacks.
Last November, after several weeks of attacks against convoys, JNIM claimed in a propaganda video that from now on all tanker truck drivers would be considered "military targets".
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