France urges citizens to leave Mali temporarily due to jihadist blockade

France has urged its citizens in Mali to leave immediately, as Islamist insurgents maintain their blockade of the country. The French Foreign Ministry recommended that citizens use commercial flights while they are still available and avoid traveling overland. The two-month-long fuel blockade, enforced by an al-Qaeda-linked group, has disrupted daily life in the capital, Bamako, and other parts of the landlocked West African nation, a former French colony. A. Fenaux and S. Sitbon have this story.