Italy has joined the United States in urging its citizens to leave Mali immediately, as the nation grapples with an escalating energy crisis and severe fuel shortages that have crippled transportation and daily mobility across the country.
The warning follows an earlier advisory from the U.S. Embassy in Bamako on Tuesday, which urged American citizens to depart by air or establish personal security plans if travel was not possible. The embassy cautioned that consular assistance can now only be guaranteed within the capital.
Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a similar notice on Wednesday, urging its roughly 70 nationals, most based in Bamako, to leave “without delay,” citing mounting concerns over mobility and safety amid the country’s deepening energy crisis.
Mali’s turmoil has intensified since early September, when the armed group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) began blocking hydrocarbon imports and targeting fuel convoys.
As shortages cripple transport and public services, authorities have suspended schools and universities for two weeks starting October 27, citing “major travel difficulties.”
Analysts say the rare, coordinated alerts from Washington and Rome underscore growing international alarm over Mali’s deteriorating humanitarian and security situation, a crisis that continues to isolate the Sahel nation under military rule.
