Mali Shuts Down Schools and Universities as Jihadist Blockade Exacerbates Fuel Shortage
Mali has closed educational facilities and universities across the nation due to a critical energy crisis caused by a restriction on fuel imports enforced by militant groups.
Top education official declared on state television that all education institutions would remain closed until the ninth of November, clarifying that the transportation of staff and learners had been impacted by the restrictions.
He emphasized that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to resolve the crisis so that classes could resume on 10 November.
For several weeks, the nation has been grappling with a energy deficit, notably in the administrative center, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a blockade by attacking tankers on major highways.
Mali is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are transported by road from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.
Lengthy waits have been winding around gas pumps in the main city in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly become deserted.
The ruling military council had in recent days assured residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has continued.
In the past few days, the US Embassy in Bamako stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would evacuate Mali amid the intensifying energy crisis and increasing safety issues.
It said that the energy interruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.
The West African nation is presently governed by a armed forces administration led by Gen Assimi GoĂŻta, who took control in a coup in recently.
The junta had widespread approval when it took power, committing to deal with the protracted safety emergency caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.
The United Nations stabilization force and France's military had been deployed in 2013 to address the escalating insurgency.
The international troops have left since the junta took over, and the military government has contracted foreign fighters to combat the instability.
However, the jihadist insurgency has continued and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain beyond state authority.
