Lead

Water has been restored in Mali's capital, Bamako, days after a suspected sabotage on a key power transmission line left large parts of the city without electricity and running water. The disruption, which began on Sunday, forced thousands of residents to rely on solar-powered boreholes and neighbourhood wells, according to reports from Africa News.

Mali's drinking water utility, SOMAGEP, said it has now secured enough fuel to get its systems running again, but the electrical grid is still facing major disruption. The utility attributed the outage to "sabotage on the high-voltage line" supplying Bamako from the Manantali Dam, located on the border with Senegal and Mauritania.

Coverage comparison

Africa News reported that the state-owned electricity provider, Energie du Mali (EDM), said an incident on the transmission network had severely affected power supply across several districts, though it did not identify the cause. A senior official at SOMAGEP later told AFP that the disruption resulted from sabotage on the same high-voltage line, but the perpetrators had not been identified. Both reports from Africa News consistently describe the incident as sabotage, with one noting that the water utility's statement was the basis for that characterization.

The coverage also highlights the human impact of the outages. Residents formed long queues before dawn in search of water, with one teacher from Bamako's Badalabougou district describing the situation as "unbearable" — no fans, no fridge, and not a drop of water from the tap for over 24 hours. A mother of four on the outskirts of the capital said her family began searching for water at 4 a.m., but supplies at local drilling stations were already running low.

At the Bamako District Hospital, an official said patients had to drink water from the facility's borehole, which was normally used for hygiene purposes only. The official noted that they advised everyone to add bleach to the water, which "spared us from further problems."

Key claims

  • The electricity and water outages in Bamako were caused by sabotage on a high-voltage line linking the city to the Manantali Dam, according to SOMAGEP.
  • EDM, the state power utility, reported a severe impact on power supply across several districts but did not specify a cause.
  • Residents relied on solar-powered boreholes and neighbourhood wells during the outage, with long queues forming before dawn.
  • Patients at the Bamako District Hospital drank water from the facility's borehole, normally used only for hygiene, after taps ran dry for two days.
  • SOMAGEP secured enough fuel to restart its systems, but the electrical grid continues to face major disruption.
The outages come amid a broader security crisis that has strained Mali's infrastructure. The Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) has intensified pressure on routes leading into Bamako, imposing blockades on major roads and setting fire to buses, cargo trucks, and fuel tankers, according to reports from Africa News. Mali has faced a deepening security crisis since 2012, with violence involving jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, separatist movements, and criminal armed groups.