🔗 Share this article

The landlocked West African country has suspended educational facilities and universities throughout the country due to a acute energy crisis resulting from a embargo on petroleum supplies imposed by Islamist insurgents.

The Education Minister announced on national broadcast that all academic facilities would be inactive until the ninth of November, clarifying that the movement of employees and pupils had been affected by the blockade.

He stated that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to resolve the situation so that classes could resume on November 10th.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been experiencing a fuel shortage, notably in the main city, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a blockade by striking transport vehicles on primary roads.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are transported by truck from neighboring states such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Lengthy waits have been winding around gas pumps in the main city in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The junta-led administration had previously promised residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has continued.

Last week, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would evacuate Mali amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and escalating security concerns.

It noted that the energy interruptions had disrupted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.

Mali is now led by a armed forces administration headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a coup in 2021.

The military government had popular support when it assumed control, promising to tackle the long-running security crisis prompted by a autonomy movement in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been stationed in previously to deal with the increasing militant activity.

Both have departed since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has contracted foreign fighters to combat the violence.

However, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain outside government control.