Mali: Equipment of Chinese construction company set on fire

In the Kayes region of Mali, an inland African country, last Saturday (May 24, 2025), an attack occurred against a Chinese enterprise. In this area near Senegal, the Chinese construction company responsible for building the road from Kayes to Diéma in western Mali became the target of the attack: warehouses and a batch of engineering equipment were burned down.

A Chinese construction company in Mali was attacked on Saturday, May 24. Suspected jihadists have now launched more and more operations in this part of western Mali bordering Senegal.

On-site description of the attack by Malian employees of the company

The China Overseas Engineering Corporation (COVEC), also known as [China Overseas Engineering Co., Ltd.], is currently constructing the road from Kayes to Diéma in western Mali. Not far from this route, the facilities of the Chinese company became the target of the attack: warehouses, cranes, tractors, and other engineering equipment were burned down.

The same report cited a Malian employee of this company who said that the attackers were not numerous, but they had blueprints of the facilities. Therefore, they quickly achieved their goal. Another interviewee stated that the perpetrators did as they pleased at the site and then left without hesitation.

Chinese enterprise managers were not on-site during the incident

The second target of the perpetrators seemed to be the hijacking of the Chinese supervisors of this enterprise. However, they were not there at the time. New security measures have been deployed locally.

Within less than a month, this is the second time suspected jihadists have taken action in the Kayes region. At the beginning of this month, a mine operated by a Chinese citizen was also attacked.

Relevant information shows that the Chinese enterprise COVEC, abbreviated as [China Overseas], is officially named [China Overseas Engineering Co., Ltd.]. This Chinese enterprise has successively undertaken major projects such as the Parliament Building and the Presidential Palace in Mali.

Source: rfi

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1833201544857608/

Disclaimer: The article represents the views of the author alone.