Business affected in Mali after hotel attack

Business was severely affected in Mali after the attack around the Radisson Hotel that killed 27 people in the Malian capital of Bamako on Friday.

Sidibe is a driver for rent cars of Radisson, and he said that since the attack, he has not got any business.

“Since Friday, things are stopped, because of the thing that happened where some people come and start shooting on people; it makes everybody afraid. So now, the business is stopped, because nobody in the hotel. It’s closed for now. I don’t know what will happen next,” he said.

He said he was doing business when the attack occurred, “Seven o’clock, I’m on the way coming to do my job, then before I reached the hotel, They started shoot[ing]. After I arrive, I see many people, many people around the hotel. But after the police come, the UN soldiers came. They start to do the plan — how to enter [the hotel], how to save many people.”

And his family and friends were worried about him very much at that time.

“My wife was worried about me, my friends, too. My wife was very worried, she was very worried, she said Sidibe come, come home. Don’t go to Ra (Radisson) hotel today. It’s very bad, because she was watching on the TV,” he said.

Although the hotel staff told Sidibe that they would try their best to resume business in two weeks, he was still considering suspending his job for a short term.