Mali Suspends Educational Institutions and Universities as Islamist Militant Blockade Worsens Petrol Crisis
The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and colleges throughout the country due to a severe petrol shortage triggered by a embargo on fuel imports implemented by Islamist insurgents.
Top education official declared on state television that all learning centers would remain closed until 9 November, clarifying that the transportation of personnel and students had been impacted by the blockade.
He stated that the government officials were “making every effort” to end the situation so that academic sessions could resume on November 10th.
For several weeks, Mali has been grappling with a energy deficit, especially in the main city, after insurgents from an jihadist network initiated a restriction by attacking fuel trucks on key routes.
The country is without coastal access, so all energy resources are brought in by road from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.
Extended lines have been snaking around fuel outlets in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly fallen quiet.
The ruling military council had in recent days reassured residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the emergency has persisted.
In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would leave the country amid the deteriorating energy crisis and escalating protection worries.
It said that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.
Mali is now led by a armed forces administration under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a takeover in two years ago.
The ruling council had public backing when it took power, promising to address the ongoing instability prompted by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.
The United Nations stabilization force and European soldiers had been stationed in a decade ago to combat the increasing militant activity.
Both have left since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has hired private military contractors to address the instability.
Nonetheless, the militant uprising has continued and extensive regions of the north and east of the nation remain outside government control.
