Mali junta bans motorcycles outside cities and creates military zones to reduce militant attacks

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — The military government of Mali has banned the sales and use of large motorcycles outside major urban areas and established military zones that are off limits to civilians in an attempt to reduce attacks by militant groups.

The ban announced late Wednesday on national television affects motorcycles with engine displacements of 125 cubic centimetres and higher.

Motorcycles are the primary means of transportation in rural areas of Mali and are used by rural residents and armed groups. Militants often criss-cross the large landscapes of the Sahelian terrain on motorcycles to launch attacks and withdraw. They regularly attack convoys of vehicles transporting goods to the capital Bamako, often setting them ablaze.

The military government also established what it calls “zones of military interests” in 35 locations, which are primarily forests located in the central, southern and western parts of the country where civilians are now prohibited from entering.

“These zones are areas that could serve as safe havens for armed terrorist groups, and as such, the Armed Forces General Staff systematically targets all locations within these zones,” according to the decree announced Wednesday night.

The West African nation, ruled by the military since a 2020 coup, suffered its heaviest attack in more than a decade during a nationwide offensive in April by Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM, a powerful militant group linked to al-Qaida, and separatist group Azawad Liberation Front, or FLA.

The offensive included a blockade on Bamako, the capture of the key northern city of Kidal and an attack that killed former Defense Minister Sadio Camara.