The West African nation Shuts Down Schools and Universities as Islamist Militant Blockade Worsens Petrol Emergency
The landlocked West African country has suspended educational facilities and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a acute petrol shortage triggered by a restriction on energy resources enforced by jihadist fighters.
The Education Minister declared on state television that all learning centers would be inactive until 9 November, explaining that the travel of personnel and learners had been impacted by the imposed limitations.
He asserted that the administration were “making every effort” to end the situation so that educational activities could restart on November 10th.
For several weeks, the nation has been facing a energy deficit, notably in the capital Bamako, after militants from an jihadist network enforced a restriction by striking tankers on major highways.
Mali is landlocked, so all petroleum products are transported by truck from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and CĂ´te d'Ivoire.
Long queues have been winding around petrol stations in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now allegedly grown silent.
The junta-led administration had earlier this month reassured the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the emergency has persisted.
Last week, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako announced that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families would leave the country amid the deteriorating energy crisis and escalating security concerns.
It said that the fuel disruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.
Mali is presently governed by a armed forces administration under the leadership of the military leader, who seized power in a coup in two years ago.
The military government had popular support when it assumed control, vowing to deal with the long-running security crisis prompted by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.
The international UN troops and French forces had been deployed in previously to deal with the escalating insurgency.
Both have departed since the new administration came in, and the current administration has contracted foreign fighters to address the instability.
However, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain beyond state authority.