Mali Shuts Down Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Blockade Exacerbates Petrol Crisis
Mali has closed educational facilities and colleges across the nation due to a critical fuel scarcity resulting from a restriction on fuel imports implemented by Islamist insurgents.
Minister of Education declared on national broadcast that all education institutions would stay shut until the ninth of November, clarifying that the travel of employees and learners had been affected by the imposed limitations.
He emphasized that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to end the crisis so that academic sessions could resume on the tenth of November.
For a number of weeks, the nation has been experiencing a energy deficit, notably in the main city, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a restriction by targeting fuel trucks on major highways.
The country is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are brought in by road from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.
Long queues have been snaking around fuel outlets in the main city in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly fallen quiet.
The junta-led administration had earlier this month reassured citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has continued.
Last week, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would evacuate the country amid the intensifying energy crisis and increasing protection worries.
It explained that the energy interruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “capacity to affect” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.
The West African nation is currently ruled by a army council under the leadership of the military leader, who seized power in a takeover in two years ago.
The junta had popular support when it assumed control, committing to address the long-running security crisis prompted by a independence uprising in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.
The international UN troops and France's military had been stationed in previously to address the escalating insurgency.
These forces have left since the junta took over, and the military government has contracted Russian mercenaries to tackle the violence.
However, the jihadist insurgency has continued and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain outside government control.
