🔗 Share this article

The landlocked West African country has closed educational facilities and universities across the nation due to a critical petrol shortage caused by a embargo on fuel imports implemented by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education stated on national broadcast that all learning centers would remain closed until 9 November, noting that the movement of employees and pupils had been impacted by the imposed limitations.

He stated that the administration were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the crisis so that academic sessions could resume on 10 November.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been grappling with a energy deficit, especially in the capital Bamako, after militants from an jihadist network imposed a restriction by striking tankers on key routes.

The country is without coastal access, so all petroleum products are delivered by road from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Lengthy waits have been forming around fuel outlets in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly fallen quiet.

The junta-led administration had in recent days assured the public that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has endured.

Recently, the United States diplomatic office in the capital stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would depart Mali amid the intensifying fuel shortage and growing safety issues.

It said that the energy interruptions had impacted the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a army council under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who assumed authority in a military overthrow in two years ago.

The ruling council had public backing when it assumed control, promising to deal with the long-running security crisis triggered by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been stationed in previously to combat the escalating insurgency.

These forces have left since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has contracted foreign fighters to tackle the instability.

However, the jihadist insurgency has endured and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain beyond state authority.