US orders non-emergency employees to leave Mali due to safety risks

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. State Department on Thursday ordered non-emergency employees and their family members to leave Mali due to safety risks, as the government there comes under increasing pressure from al Qaeda-linked insurgents, who are imposing a fuel blockade.

“The Department of State ordered non-emergency employees and their family members to leave Mali due to safety risks,” the State Department said in an updated travel advisory.

Last week, the State Department authorized the departure of non-emergency personnel, and on Tuesday it warned Americans in Mali to leave the country immediately. The travel advisory level for Mali is level 4, or “do not travel”.

In early September, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin militants announced a blockade on fuel imports to the landlocked West African country. They have since attacked convoys of fuel tankers attempting to enter the country or reach the capital, Bamako.

The government on Sunday ordered the suspension of school and university classes throughout Mali for two weeks due to the fuel shortage.

Analysts have described the fuel blockade as part of a pressure campaign on Mali’s military-led government by militant groups, who want to cut off the country’s economic oxygen.

(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Editing by Franklin Paul and David Gregorio)