Tombouctou plunged into darkness: a chronicle of programmed energy asphyxiation
Cut off from the rest of Mali by insecurity, the historic city of 333 saints endures an unprecedented ordeal. Deprived of electricity and running water due to a dry fuel shortage, Tombouctou highlights the logistical and security failure that punishes civilian populations first.
In Tombouctou, the thermometer easily exceeds 40 degrees Celsius in the shade. Yet for several days, no fan has turned, no refrigerator has worked, and taps are desperately dry. The local thermal power plant, managed by the public company Énergie du Mali (EDM-SA), is completely at a standstill. Without fuel to power its generators, an entire city is plunged into technological void, dragging down the Société malienne de gestion de l’eau potable (Somagep) in its fall.
This is no longer just an infrastructure crisis; it is an invisible blockade paralyzing the lives of tens of thousands of residents.
The logistical blockade: When fuel becomes a weapon
If Bamako suffers from chronic load shedding, Tombouctou endures a double penalty: that of its geographical and security situation. The current crisis is the direct result of a fuel shortage that has been dragging on for over a month.
- The JNIM embargo: For several months, jihadist groups of the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims have imposed an asphyxiating blockade on the main road axes leading to the north. The tanker trucks that usually supply the city are targeted, blocked, or escorted in dribs and drabs.
- 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 liter of fuel on the black market has skyrocketed, making it impossible for small businesses or private generators to operate independently.
Immediate health impact:
Without electricity, the cold chain is broken, threatening the preservation of scarce food and medicines. At the regional hospital of Tombouctou, the situation borders on catastrophe, forcing staff to prioritize absolute vital emergencies under the light of mobile phones or backup solar installations still insufficient to cover the entire facility.
State disengagement pointed out
Faced with this emergency, local authorities have announced operations to distribute drinking water by tanker trucks to compensate for the shortage. But these emergency measures of a ‘humanitarian’ nature do not mask the resentment of the population. The residents of Tombouctou feel abandoned on the periphery of the capital’s priorities.
The promise of securing strategic axes and energy autonomy struggles to materialize. By choosing an exclusively military approach to secure flows, without managing to guarantee the continuity of basic services, the Malian state leaves Somagep and EDM powerless in the face of flow cuts.
A city on life support
Tombouctou cannot live indefinitely on a drip of empty generators. If the Malian transition wants to prove its ability to administer the entire territory, the reconquest of basic public services is just as crucial as the military reconquest. As long as the roads remain cut and EDM’s tankers cannot safely reach the north, the pearl of the desert will continue to go dark, one neighborhood after another.
