🔗 Share this article

Mali has closed schools and universities countrywide due to a critical energy crisis caused by a embargo on petroleum supplies imposed by Islamist insurgents.

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

He stated that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to end the situation so that academic sessions could resume on the tenth of November.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been experiencing a fuel shortage, notably in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a embargo by targeting transport vehicles on key routes.

The country is landlocked, so all energy resources are transported by truck from neighboring states such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Lengthy waits have been forming around petrol stations in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly fallen quiet.

The junta-led administration had earlier this month reassured the public that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has persisted.

Last week, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would evacuate the country amid the worsening energy crisis and escalating safety issues.

It noted that the fuel disruptions had impacted the power distribution and had the “ability to disturb” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

Mali is presently governed by a army council led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a coup in recently.

The junta had widespread approval when it took power, promising to tackle the long-running security crisis caused by a autonomy movement in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.

The international UN troops and European soldiers had been stationed in 2013 to deal with the increasing militant activity.

The international troops have left since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has employed private military contractors to tackle the instability.

Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has endured and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain beyond state authority.