Mali Shuts Down Schools and Universities as Islamist Militant Blockade Worsens Fuel Crisis
The landlocked West African country has closed schools and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a acute petrol shortage resulting from a restriction on energy resources enforced by militant groups.
The Education Minister stated on public media that all learning centers would be inactive until November 9th, clarifying that the transportation of staff and pupils had been disrupted by the restrictions.
He asserted that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to resolve the emergency so that academic sessions could resume on 10 November.
For several weeks, Mali has been grappling with a petrol crisis, notably in the capital Bamako, after militants from an jihadist network imposed a embargo by attacking tankers on key routes.
The country is landlocked, so all petroleum products are delivered by truck from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.
Extended lines have been winding around gas pumps in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly fallen quiet.
The ruling military council had in recent days assured the public that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has endured.
Last week, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would evacuate Mali amid the intensifying fuel shortage and escalating security concerns.
It explained that the energy interruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.
Mali is presently governed by a armed forces administration under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who assumed authority in a coup in two years ago.
The military government had widespread approval when it assumed control, committing to address the long-running security crisis triggered by a independence uprising in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.
The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been sent in 2013 to deal with the escalating insurgency.
These forces have departed since the new administration came in, and the current administration has hired foreign fighters to address the violence.
However, the militant uprising has continued and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain beyond state authority.