🔗 Share this article

The landlocked West African country has suspended educational facilities and universities throughout the country due to a severe fuel scarcity resulting from a blockade on petroleum supplies imposed by militant groups.

The Education Minister declared on national broadcast that all academic facilities would stay shut until November 9th, explaining that the travel of employees and learners had been impacted by the imposed limitations.

He stated that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to end the emergency so that classes could restart on 10 November.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been facing a petrol crisis, notably in the administrative center, after armed groups from an jihadist network initiated a blockade by targeting fuel trucks on major highways.

The country is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are transported by road from neighboring states such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Extended lines have been snaking around petrol stations in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently fallen quiet.

The junta-led administration had previously reassured citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has continued.

Recently, the US Embassy in Bamako stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would evacuate Mali amid the deteriorating fuel shortage and growing safety issues.

It said that the energy interruptions had affected the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unforeseen manners.

The West African nation is presently governed by a army council under the leadership of the military leader, who assumed authority in a takeover in recently.

The junta had popular support when it came to authority, committing to tackle the ongoing instability triggered by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.

The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been sent in a decade ago to deal with the growing rebellion.

Both have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the current administration has contracted private military contractors to combat the instability.

Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has continued and large parts of the north and east of the country remain beyond state authority.