🔗 Share this article

Mali has closed schools and colleges throughout the country due to a severe energy crisis resulting from a restriction on energy resources implemented by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education stated on public media that all learning centers would remain closed until the ninth of November, clarifying that the movement of personnel and students had been disrupted by the imposed limitations.

He asserted that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the crisis so that classes could resume on November 10th.

For several weeks, Mali has been facing a energy deficit, particularly in the main city, after militants from an jihadist network imposed a restriction by striking tankers on primary roads.

The country is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are brought in by truck from neighboring states such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Lengthy waits have been winding around petrol stations in the main city in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The military government had in recent days assured the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the situation has continued.

In the past few days, the US Embassy in the capital announced that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would leave the country amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and increasing protection worries.

It noted that the fuel disruptions had affected the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a army council under the leadership of the military leader, who seized power in a coup in two years ago.

The military government had widespread approval when it took power, committing to tackle the protracted safety emergency caused by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.

The UN peacekeeping mission and France's military had been stationed in 2013 to combat the growing rebellion.

The international troops have left since the junta took over, and the current administration has hired foreign fighters to address the insecurity.

Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and extensive regions of the north and east of the nation remain not under administrative command.