Published on : 06/07/2022 – 11:56
After six months of embargo on Mali, the lifting of sanctions means for West African countries that trade can fully resume with this country. In particular for carriers serving Mali from the ports of Dakar or Abidjan.
With our correspondent in Abidjan, Pierre Pinto
The day following the closure of Mali’s borders, hundreds of trucks had been blocked. Many of them, those who had loaded before the introduction of the sanctions, had finally been able to return to Mali thanks to the struggle of the Union of truck drivers of West Africa (Ucrao).
The latter is pleased today to the lifting of the embargo and traffic which resumed on Tuesday and continues on Wednesday. ” Almost 300 trucks crossed the Senegal border and around 60 trucks crossed the Ivorian border “, according to the general secretary of Ucrao, Bamba Daouda.
« Mali is an essential country”
« This already shows the increase in traffic since the lifting of the embargo, which will increase and which will reach its normal rate in two weeks, because the trucks have to be loaded, customs documents have to be done. And it takes a few days “, he adds.
For now, the traffic is smooth, he says. The lifting of the embargo is important for the union. ” Mali is an essential country and free movement was greatly hampered. Truck drivers were tired of these measures. It was thousands of road drivers who suffered, who were unemployed “explains the Secretary General.