At Mali border with Ivory Coast, lines of trucks held up by sanctions

Malian Truckers rest near their trucks parked on a site, following the closure of the border between Ivory Coast and Mali, as part of additional sanctions imposed on Mali's transitional government, in the border town of Tingrela, Ivory Coast January 20, 2022. Picture taken January 20, 2022. REUTERS/Ange Aboa

Madou Sidibe should be home by now, the cement product in his truck delivered to a client in Mali. Instead he is stranded at a dusty border crossing in neighbouring Ivory Coast, one of hundreds of drivers shut out by economic sanctions.

Over the phone from Mali's capital Bamako, his five children fire questions that he does not have the answer to: "When are you coming back, daddy? How long will you be there?"