🔗 Share this article

The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted schools and colleges countrywide due to a critical energy crisis caused by a embargo on fuel imports implemented by militant groups.

Minister of Education announced on public media that all learning centers would remain closed until 9 November, noting that the movement of employees and pupils had been affected by the imposed limitations.

He asserted that the authorities were “making every effort” to resolve the situation so that classes could restart on November 10th.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been experiencing a fuel shortage, especially in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a embargo by striking tankers on primary roads.

Mali is landlocked, so all energy resources are transported by truck from bordering countries such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Extended lines have been winding around petrol stations in the main city in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently grown silent.

The junta-led administration had in recent days promised citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has continued.

Last week, the US Embassy in the capital stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would depart the country amid the deteriorating energy crisis and increasing protection worries.

It explained that the fuel disruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.

Mali is currently ruled by a military junta led by the military leader, who took control in a coup in two years ago.

The junta had widespread approval when it assumed control, promising to tackle the protracted safety emergency prompted by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.

The international UN troops and France's military had been deployed in previously to combat the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have left since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has employed Russian mercenaries to address the instability.

However, the Islamist rebellion has endured and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain beyond state authority.