{"id":894,"date":"2022-01-13T22:03:38","date_gmt":"2022-01-13T22:03:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/?p=894"},"modified":"2022-01-13T11:04:41","modified_gmt":"2022-01-13T11:04:41","slug":"mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite","title":{"rendered":"Mali travellers stranded as West African sanctions bite"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eswatini. <\/strong><\/span>A bus station in Mali’s capital stands unusually quiet, with foreign passengers left in limbo after West African countries closed their borders with the military-ruled nation.<\/p>\n

Africa Tours Trans is one of the main bus firms in the impoverished Sahel state, offering connections to its regional cities as well as to neighbouring countries.<\/p>\n

But late Tuesday morning only one bus arrived at its station in Bamako, coming from the central Malian city of Sevare.<\/p>\n

Dozens of would-be passengers were hanging around next to their luggage, left in limbo by recent border closures.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) agreed to shutter borders with Mali and impose a trade embargo over delayed elections.<\/p>\n

The move came after Mali’s army-dominated government last month proposed staying in power for up to five years before restoring democracy — despite international demands that it respect a promise to hold elections on February 27.<\/p>\n

Relations between Mali and its neighbours have steadily deteriorated since Colonel Assimi Goita took power in a military coup in August 2020.<\/p>\n

The sanctions are already affecting travellers in Mali, a vast landlocked nation of 19 million people that borders seven other states.<\/p>\n

The country’s location makes it a key transport hub for the region, with Bamako a key stop along the land route linking countries such as Senegal to states further east, such as Nigeria.<\/p>\n

– ‘Shocked’ –<\/b><\/p>\n

Jennifer Edong, a Nigerian in her 30s who works in fashion, was among the passengers stranded at the Africa Tours Trans station in Bamako.<\/p>\n

She had been travelling to The Gambia for work, and had arrived in Mali on Friday expecting her next connection to depart on Tuesday — only to turn up at the station and find the connection cancelled.<\/p>\n

“We are stuck here, I cannot do anything,” she said, adding that she didn’t have a local SIM card and disliked Malian cuisine.<\/p>\n

Only the routes to Mauritania and Algeria — which are not ECOWAS members — and Guinea remain open.<\/p>\n

Guinea is a member of the regional bloc, but is also governed by a military junta and has decided to leave its border with Mali open.<\/p>\n

Peter Adeyemo, 48, another Nigerian who was en route to his home in The Gambia, was sleeping on a bench nearby.<\/p>\n

He opened his eyes to ask when the borders were due to open, but no one was able to answer.<\/p>\n

“I was shocked,” Adeyemo told AFP of the cancelled routes, explaining that being forced to camp at the bus station meant he could not bathe, among other problems.<\/p>\n

It is not clear when the sanctions will be lifted, nor how Mali will respond to them.<\/p>\n

Mali’s interim government has pledged to “develop a response plan to safeguard our sovereignty and preserve the integrity of our national territory”, but has not offered any details.<\/p>\n

– ‘We’ll deal with it’ –<\/b><\/p>\n

For Malian travel firms, the border closures will also compound commercial problems posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has already made travel across the region more difficult.<\/p>\n

Yaya Zakaria Toure, a representative of African Tours Trans, said the sanctions would “make the problem even worse”.<\/p>\n

All international connections scheduled this week have been cancelled, he said.<\/p>\n

“But we’ll deal with it because we have no other choice. We follow the government”.<\/p>\n

Several transport industry officials told AFP that many buses are still running, but they are now simply dropping passengers off at the border.<\/p>\n

Travellers must then cross the border on foot, baggage in hand, before catching a bus on the other side.<\/p>\n

“That’s how we do it at the border with Ivory Coast, which has been closed for two years because of coronavirus,” said one bus driver, who declined to be named.<\/p>\n

At the Africa Tours Trans station in Bamako, the Malians able to return home did so.<\/p>\n

But the foreigners — often without lodgings or relatives in the city — remained on its benches, hoping for a swift resolution.<\/p>\n

“By the grace of God, maybe we will move,” said Edong, the Nigerian who works in fashion.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Eswatini<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eswatini. A bus station in Mali’s capital stands unusually quiet, with foreign passengers left in limbo after West African countries closed their borders with the military-ruled nation. Africa Tours Trans is one of the main bus firms in the impoverished Sahel state, offering connections to its regional cities as well as to neighbouring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12,13,16],"tags":[234,248,335,249,287,333,334],"class_list":["post-894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-social","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-eswatini","tag-embargo","tag-eswatini","tag-mali","tag-political-crisis","tag-road-transport"],"yoast_head":"\nMali travellers stranded as West African sanctions bite - Eswatini<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A bus station in Mali's capital stands unusually quiet, with foreign passengers left in limbo after West African countri ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mali travellers stranded as West African sanctions bite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A bus station in Mali's capital stands unusually quiet, with foreign passengers left in limbo after West African countri ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eswatini\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-01-13T22:03:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2022\/01\/img-61e0072bd0455.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"538\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Mali travellers stranded as West African sanctions bite\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-13T22:03:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite\"},\"wordCount\":701,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2022\/01\/img-61e0072bd0455.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Eswatini\",\"Embargo\",\"Eswatini\",\"Mali\",\"Political crisis\",\"Road transport\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\",\"Social\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite\",\"name\":\"Mali travellers stranded as West African sanctions bite - Eswatini\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2022\/01\/img-61e0072bd0455.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-01-13T22:03:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"A bus station in Mali's capital stands unusually quiet, with foreign passengers left in limbo after West African countri ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2022\/01\/img-61e0072bd0455.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2022\/01\/img-61e0072bd0455.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":538,\"caption\":\"Mali travellers stranded as West African sanctions bite\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mali travellers stranded as West African sanctions bite\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/\",\"name\":\"Eswatini\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mali travellers stranded as West African sanctions bite - Eswatini","description":"A bus station in Mali's capital stands unusually quiet, with foreign passengers left in limbo after West African countri ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mali travellers stranded as West African sanctions bite","og_description":"A bus station in Mali's capital stands unusually quiet, with foreign passengers left in limbo after West African countri ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite","og_site_name":"Eswatini","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2022-01-13T22:03:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":538,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2022\/01\/img-61e0072bd0455.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Mali travellers stranded as West African sanctions bite","datePublished":"2022-01-13T22:03:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite"},"wordCount":701,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2022\/01\/img-61e0072bd0455.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Eswatini","Embargo","Eswatini","Mali","Political crisis","Road transport"],"articleSection":["all news","homepage-english","policy","Social","twitter"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite","name":"Mali travellers stranded as West African sanctions bite - Eswatini","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2022\/01\/img-61e0072bd0455.jpg","datePublished":"2022-01-13T22:03:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"A bus station in Mali's capital stands unusually quiet, with foreign passengers left in limbo after West African countri ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2022\/01\/img-61e0072bd0455.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/sites\/33\/2022\/01\/img-61e0072bd0455.jpg","width":1024,"height":538,"caption":"Mali travellers stranded as West African sanctions bite"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/all-news\/mali-travellers-stranded-as-west-african-sanctions-bite#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mali travellers stranded as West African sanctions bite"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/","name":"Eswatini","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eswatini\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}