Cut off from the rest of Mali by insecurity, the historic city of 333 saints endures an unprecedented ordeal. Without electricity or running water due to a severe fuel shortage, Tombouctou highlights the logistical and security collapse that first punishes civilians.
In Tombouctou, the thermometer regularly exceeds 40 degrees Celsius in the shade. Yet for days, not a single fan turns, no refrigerator works, and taps remain stubbornly dry. The local thermal power plant, operated by the public company Énergie du Mali (EDM-SA), is completely shut down. Without fuel to power its generators, an entire city has been plunged into technological void, dragging down the Malian Water Management Company (Somagep) with it.
This is no longer just an infrastructure crisis; it is an invisible blockade that paralyses the lives of tens of thousands of residents.
The logistical blockade: when fuel becomes a weapon
While Bamako suffers from chronic load shedding, Tombouctou faces a double penalty: its geographic and security situation. The current crisis is the direct result of a fuel shortage that has stretched for over a month.
- The JNIM embargo: For months, jihadist groups from the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (JNIM) have imposed a suffocating blockade on the main road arteries leading to the north. Fuel tankers that normally supply the city are targeted, blocked, or escorted in trickles.
- The exorbitant cost of makeshift solutions: Deprived of regular supply routes, the city depends on informal circuits or slow, rare military convoys. The price of a litre of fuel on the black market has skyrocketed, making it impossible for small businesses or private generators to operate independently.
The immediate health impact is severe: without electricity, the cold chain is broken, threatening the preservation of scarce food and medicines. At the regional hospital in Tombouctou, the situation borders on catastrophic, forcing staff to prioritise absolute life-saving emergencies under the light of mobile phones or emergency solar installations that remain insufficient to cover the entire facility.
State disengagement criticised
Faced with this emergency, local authorities have announced operations to distribute drinking water via tanker trucks to offset the lack. But these emergency measures of a “humanitarian” nature do not hide the resentment of the population. Residents of Tombouctou feel abandoned on the periphery of the capital’s priorities.
The promise of securing strategic axes and achieving energy autonomy remains unfulfilled. By choosing an exclusively military approach to secure flows without managing to guarantee basic services continuity, the Malian state leaves Somagep and EDM powerless in the face of supply cuts.
A city on life support
Tombouctou cannot live indefinitely on life support from empty generators. If the Malian transition wants to prove its ability to administer the entire territory, reclaiming basic public services is just as crucial as military reconquest. As long as roads remain cut and EDM’s tankers cannot safely reach the north, the pearl of the desert will continue to fade, one neighbourhood after another.
