🔗 Share this article

Mali has suspended schools and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a acute petrol shortage triggered by a blockade on fuel imports implemented by jihadist fighters.

Minister of Education declared on public media that all academic facilities would remain closed until the ninth of November, clarifying that the movement of staff and students had been affected by the blockade.

He stated that the administration were “doing everything possible” to end the crisis so that educational activities could restart on the tenth of November.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been facing a energy deficit, especially in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a restriction by attacking tankers on primary roads.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are delivered by road from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Lengthy waits have been forming around fuel outlets in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly fallen quiet.

The ruling military council had previously promised residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has continued.

Recently, the United States diplomatic office in the capital declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would evacuate Mali amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and increasing safety issues.

It said that the energy interruptions had disrupted the energy availability and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.

Mali is presently governed by a army council headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a coup in 2021.

The ruling council had widespread approval when it came to authority, vowing to tackle the ongoing instability triggered by a independence uprising in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.

The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been deployed in previously to deal with the growing rebellion.

The international troops have departed since the military assumed power, and the current administration has contracted Russian mercenaries to combat the violence.

Nevertheless, the militant uprising has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain beyond state authority.