🔗 Share this article

Mali has closed schools and universities throughout the country due to a acute petrol shortage caused by a blockade on fuel imports imposed by Islamist insurgents.

The Education Minister announced on national broadcast that all academic facilities would stay shut until November 9th, noting that the transportation of personnel and students had been disrupted by the blockade.

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

For weeks, the nation has been grappling with a energy deficit, notably in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a embargo by attacking transport vehicles on primary roads.

The country is landlocked, so all petroleum products are brought in by truck from bordering countries such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Long queues have been forming around petrol stations in the main city in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The military government had earlier this month promised citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has endured.

Last week, the US Embassy in the capital stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would depart Mali amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and growing security concerns.

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

Mali is currently ruled by a armed forces administration under the leadership of General Goïta, who took control in a military overthrow in recently.

The junta had widespread approval when it took power, promising to deal with the protracted safety emergency caused by a autonomy movement in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.

The international UN troops and European soldiers had been sent in 2013 to address the growing rebellion.

Both have departed since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has contracted private military contractors to tackle the insecurity.

Nonetheless, the militant uprising has endured and significant areas of the north and east of the country remain outside government control.