Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a critical petrol shortage resulting from a restriction on energy resources imposed by militant groups.
The Education Minister declared on national broadcast that all education institutions would remain closed until November 9th, clarifying that the movement of staff and pupils had been disrupted by the blockade.
He asserted that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to end the crisis so that educational activities could restart on 10 November.
For a number of weeks, Mali has been grappling with a petrol crisis, particularly in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a restriction by targeting fuel trucks on key routes.
The country is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are brought in by truck from neighboring states such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.
Extended lines have been forming around gas pumps in the capital in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly fallen quiet.
The junta-led administration had in recent days assured citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the situation has continued.
In the past few days, the US Embassy in the capital stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would depart Mali amid the intensifying energy crisis and escalating security concerns.
It explained that the energy interruptions had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unforeseen manners.
Mali is presently governed by a armed forces administration led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a military overthrow in two years ago.
The junta had widespread approval when it came to authority, committing to tackle the long-running security crisis caused by a separatist rebellion in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.
The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been deployed in 2013 to address the growing rebellion.
These forces have departed since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has employed foreign fighters to tackle the instability.
Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has continued and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain outside government control.
