Mali Suspends Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Blockade Exacerbates Petrol Crisis
The landlocked West African country has suspended educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a critical fuel scarcity caused by a embargo on fuel imports enforced by militant groups.
Minister of Education announced on state television that all academic facilities would remain closed until 9 November, noting that the movement of personnel and pupils had been disrupted by the restrictions.
He emphasized that the administration were “doing everything possible” to resolve the crisis so that academic sessions could restart on November 10th.
For several weeks, Mali has been grappling with a energy deficit, notably in the capital Bamako, after militants from an jihadist network imposed a embargo by striking fuel trucks on primary roads.
Mali is landlocked, so all petroleum products are delivered by road from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.
Extended lines have been winding around petrol stations in the capital in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly grown silent.
The military government had in recent days reassured the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has endured.
Recently, the US Embassy in Bamako declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would depart the country amid the worsening fuel shortage and increasing security concerns.
It said that the petroleum supply issues had affected the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unforeseen manners.
The West African nation is currently ruled by a army council under the leadership of the military leader, who assumed authority in a coup in recently.
The military government had public backing when it came to authority, vowing to deal with the protracted safety emergency caused by a independence uprising in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.
The United Nations stabilization force and France's military had been sent in previously to combat the escalating insurgency.
These forces have left since the new administration came in, and the current administration has employed foreign fighters to address the insecurity.
Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has continued and significant areas of the north and east of the state remain not under administrative command.
