🔗 Share this article

The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and colleges countrywide due to a severe petrol shortage triggered by a embargo on energy resources implemented by militant groups.

Minister of Education announced on public media that all academic facilities would remain closed until 9 November, explaining that the movement of employees and pupils had been affected by the blockade.

He asserted that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the situation so that academic sessions could continue on 10 November.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been grappling with a fuel shortage, especially in the administrative center, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a embargo by attacking transport vehicles on key routes.

The country is without coastal access, so all energy resources are delivered by road from bordering countries such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Long queues have been forming around fuel outlets in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly fallen quiet.

The ruling military council had previously reassured the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has persisted.

In the past few days, the US Embassy in the capital stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would depart the country amid the intensifying fuel shortage and escalating security concerns.

It said that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.

Mali is now led by a armed forces administration headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who assumed authority in a takeover in 2021.

The junta had popular support when it came to authority, promising to deal with the protracted safety emergency triggered by a autonomy movement in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.

The United Nations stabilization force and European soldiers had been stationed in a decade ago to address the increasing militant activity.

These forces have departed since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has contracted private military contractors to tackle the instability.

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