The landlocked West African country has closed schools and colleges throughout the country due to a critical energy crisis resulting from a embargo on energy resources enforced by Islamist insurgents.
Minister of Education announced on state television that all education institutions would be inactive until 9 November, clarifying that the movement of employees and students had been affected by the imposed limitations.
He stated that the government officials were “making every effort” to alleviate the crisis so that educational activities could restart on the tenth of November.
For several weeks, Mali has been grappling with a petrol crisis, especially in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an jihadist network enforced a blockade by attacking tankers on key routes.
Mali is without coastal access, so all energy resources are brought in by road from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.
Lengthy waits have been forming around gas pumps in the main city in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly become deserted.
The ruling military council had previously reassured residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the emergency has continued.
Last week, the US Embassy in the capital stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would leave the country amid the intensifying fuel shortage and escalating protection worries.
It explained that the energy interruptions had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.
The West African nation is now led by a army council led by the military leader, who took control in a takeover in 2021.
The junta had public backing when it assumed control, promising to address the ongoing instability triggered by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by extremist groups.
The UN peacekeeping mission and France's military had been deployed in 2013 to address the increasing militant activity.
These forces have left since the junta took over, and the current administration has employed Russian mercenaries to tackle the instability.
However, the militant uprising has persisted and large parts of the north and east of the state remain outside government control.
