🔗 Share this article

Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a acute petrol shortage resulting from a blockade on petroleum supplies imposed by Islamist insurgents.

Top education official declared on public media that all education institutions would remain closed until November 9th, noting that the transportation of staff and pupils had been disrupted by the restrictions.

He emphasized that the government officials were “making every effort” to end the situation so that educational activities could restart on November 10th.

For several weeks, Mali has been grappling with a fuel shortage, notably in the main city, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a restriction by striking tankers on key routes.

The country is without coastal access, so all energy resources are delivered by truck from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Lengthy waits have been snaking around petrol stations in the main city in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently grown silent.

The junta-led administration had earlier this month assured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the situation has persisted.

Recently, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families would leave the country amid the deteriorating energy crisis and escalating safety issues.

It noted that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.

The West African nation is presently governed by a army council headed by the military leader, who seized power in a takeover in two years ago.

The ruling council had public backing when it came to authority, vowing to tackle the long-running security crisis prompted by a separatist rebellion in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.

The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been deployed in 2013 to deal with the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have left since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has hired foreign fighters to tackle the insecurity.

However, the Islamist rebellion has continued and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain beyond state authority.