The United States and the United Kingdom have announced the evacuation from Mali of their "non-essential" personnel and their families due to "security risks," as the capital Bamako suffers a jihadist blockade on fuel imports.

The U.S. State Department has "ordered non-essential employees and their families to leave Mali due to security risks," according to the U.S. travel advisory website since Thursday.

This decision was followed by the UK government, which announced on its website on Thursday that "non-essential staff at the British Embassy have been temporarily evacuated from Bamako."

On Tuesday, the US embassy had already urged its citizens to "immediately leave" the country on commercial flights.

She stressed that "fuel shortages, the closure of schools and universities across the country" and "the ongoing conflict between the Malian government and terrorist elements near the capital Bamako are exacerbating the unpredictable nature of the security situation."

The American decision was followed by other countries such as Italy, Germany, Canada and Spain, which also invited their citizens to leave the country.

Since September, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), affiliated with Al-Qaeda, has been attacking fuel tanker trucks in Mali, particularly those coming from Senegal and Ivory Coast, through which the majority of goods imported into Mali pass.

According to JNIM, the blockade is a retaliatory measure against the Malian authorities' ban on the sale of fuel outside of service stations in rural areas, where fuel is transported in jerrycans for subsequent sale. The authorities claim the measure aimed to cut off the jihadists' supply lines.

Despite army escorts, several trucks were set on fire, and drivers and soldiers were killed or abducted in jihadist ambushes.

As the blockade has been felt in the capital for two weeks, the economy of this landlocked Sahelian country has slowed to a crawl and the daily lives of its inhabitants have become extremely difficult.

Since 2012, Mali has faced a profound security crisis fueled in particular by violence from groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS), as well as community-based criminal groups. This is compounded by a severe economic crisis.

The regime, in power since two coups in 2020 and 2021, is struggling to contain jihadist attacks on the ground.