Mali : Rebel Group Lifts Blockade

Rebels in northern Mali have lifted the blockade of two regions which have been economically dependent on Algeria. The announcement of the lifting of the blockade was made on February, 9, 2024 and has been effective since Sunday. The lifting of the blockade that was decreed last December is within the Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security, and Development (CSP-PSD). Mohamed El Maouloud Ramadane, spokesperson for the CSP-PSD, told RFI that the group has decided to lift the blockade because, “since we put it in place, there has been pressure from community leaders, economic operators, from our region who have not stopped sending us people asking to really lift the blockade, particularly the region of Timbuktu and Gao.” The blockade imposed by northern rebels grouped within the CSP-PSD extended from the northern regions of Mali to the Algerian border. The northern regions of Mali are supplied by Algeria with basic necessities. Potatoes, fruits, vegetables, tea and powdered milk, half a kilo of which had gone from FCFA 1,000 to 3,000 during the blockade. 
The decision by the Permanent Strategic Framework (CSP), to impose a blockade in December, came after they were chased from their stronghold of Kidal by the Malian army. In a press release, the CSP (an alliance of armed rebel groups), declared that they had decided to “establish a total blockade on the axes going from the Algerian border to the towns of Menaka, Kidal, Gao, Timbuktu and Taoudeni” the main localities in th...