By RFIPalled on 29-08-2019Modified on 29-08-2019 at 01:22

The roadblocks installed for four days on the national road 3 leading from Kayes to Bamako were lifted Wednesday, August 28, after an agreement with the collective that had organized since Friday blocks to require the repair of the section. The government is committed to making repairs.

His three phones keep ringing. Calls from Kolokani, Kati and Kayes. It is precisely here, in this western city, that everything started for Mamedy Dioula Dramé. " It's my hometown and lately, I was shocked by the condition of the road and rails, " he says. A collective is then created, the Sirako ("What regards the road" in Bambara) and brings together. " I fixed a day: I said that the 23 [August, Ed], the bridge of Kayes would be cut and it was cut ". Hundreds of residents set up dams on the city's main bridge over the Senegal River, interrupting traffic, including trucks from Senegal and Mauritania.

After Kayes, direction Kolokani and Kati. The movement brings together several hundred young people who peacefully paralyze the roads. More than a thousand trucks are stranded at the Kati tollbooth , some fifteen kilometers northwest of Bamako.

Mamedy Dioula Dramé, a lawyer by training, and her fellow leaders had a moment of doubt. " Sincerely, we were on a one-day schedule." Finally, the dispute settled in the long term.

The barricades are maintained, especially in Kati. The Prime Minister then receives the young people. " It was very important that he receive us. He told us what the state can do and what the state can not do, "he reports. In fact, Prime Minister Boubou Cisse has his strategy: he gauges the situation, he knows he will let go of the ballast. Others take over negotiations and an agreement was finally reached on Tuesday night. The government agreed to begin work on the degraded stretch between Kayes and Bamako in three weeks.

" We started as a citizen watch movement and we will end up as a citizen watch movement ," says Mamedy Dioula Dramé when asked about the future of the movement.

    On the same subject

    Mali: at Kati toll station, road traffic is very disrupted

    Mali: Kati youth angry at the state of the main road

    Mali: the population demands the repair of the Kayes-Bamako road axis

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