Jihadist prisoner release secures fuel convoy truce in Mali

More than 100 suspected jihadists have been freed in Mali under a deal to halt attacks on fuel convoys that had paralyzed the capital, Bamako, official and security sources told AFP on Sunday.

Since September, the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) had repeatedly targeted tanker convoys, causing acute fuel shortages.

A local elected official confirmed the release of “more than 100 jihadists” in exchange for “the opening of a corridor to allow convoys of tanker lorries to pass through.”

Truce until Tabaski

Several security sources said the truce will hold until the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha (Tabaski) at the end of May. Members of the Fulani ethnic group, often conflated with jihadists, have also been released.

Landlocked Mali has faced a deep security crisis since 2012, with violence from Al-Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates alongside criminal gangs.