🔗 Share this article

The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted schools and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a acute energy crisis triggered by a blockade on fuel imports enforced by Islamist insurgents.

The Education Minister stated on national broadcast that all education institutions would stay shut until the ninth of November, noting that the transportation of employees and learners had been disrupted by the blockade.

He asserted that the administration were “making every effort” to end the crisis so that academic sessions could restart on November 10th.

For several weeks, Mali has been experiencing a energy deficit, particularly in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an jihadist network initiated a embargo by attacking transport vehicles on key routes.

The country is without coastal access, so all energy resources are transported by road from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

Lengthy waits have been winding around fuel outlets in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently become deserted.

The military government had earlier this month assured the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has persisted.

Last week, the American diplomatic mission in the capital stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would leave Mali amid the worsening energy crisis and increasing security concerns.

It noted that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unexpected forms.

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

The military government had public backing when it came to authority, vowing to tackle the ongoing instability triggered by a autonomy movement in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been sent in previously to deal with the growing rebellion.

Both have departed since the new administration came in, and the military government has employed foreign fighters to combat the instability.

However, the militant uprising has continued and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain outside government control.