🔗 Share this article

The landlocked West African country has suspended educational facilities and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a critical fuel scarcity triggered by a embargo on energy resources imposed by jihadist fighters.

The Education Minister stated on public media that all academic facilities would stay shut until November 9th, clarifying that the transportation of employees and pupils had been disrupted by the imposed limitations.

He stated that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to end the situation so that educational activities could continue on November 10th.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been facing a energy deficit, especially in the main city, after militants from an jihadist network enforced a blockade by attacking fuel trucks on primary roads.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are transported by land routes from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Long queues have been winding around fuel outlets in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently become deserted.

The ruling military council had previously promised citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the crisis has endured.

In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in the capital declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would evacuate Mali amid the deteriorating fuel shortage and growing security concerns.

It explained that the energy interruptions had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is presently governed by a army council under the leadership of General Goïta, who took control in a takeover in two years ago.

The junta had public backing when it assumed control, vowing to tackle the ongoing instability prompted by a separatist rebellion in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.

The United Nations stabilization force and European soldiers had been stationed in 2013 to address the growing rebellion.

These forces have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the current administration has contracted foreign fighters to tackle the violence.

However, the Islamist rebellion has continued and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain outside government control.