🔗 Share this article

The landlocked West African country has suspended educational facilities and colleges throughout the country due to a severe fuel scarcity caused by a embargo on fuel imports imposed by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education declared on public media that all academic facilities would stay shut until 9 November, clarifying that the movement of staff and students had been affected by the restrictions.

He asserted that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to end the crisis so that classes could continue on November 10th.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been facing a petrol crisis, notably in the administrative center, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a embargo by striking transport vehicles on major highways.

The country is without coastal access, so all energy resources are transported by truck from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

Lengthy waits have been forming around gas pumps in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly fallen quiet.

The ruling military council had earlier this month assured citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has continued.

Last week, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would evacuate Mali amid the worsening energy crisis and escalating security concerns.

It noted that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is presently governed by a army council led by General Goïta, who seized power in a coup in two years ago.

The ruling council had widespread approval when it assumed control, committing to deal with the protracted safety emergency prompted by a independence uprising in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.

The UN peacekeeping mission and France's military had been sent in 2013 to combat the increasing militant activity.

These forces have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the current administration has employed private military contractors to tackle the insecurity.

Nonetheless, the militant uprising has persisted and significant areas of the north and east of the nation remain beyond state authority.