Mali Shuts Down Educational Institutions and Universities as Jihadist Blockade Exacerbates Petrol Crisis
The landlocked West African country has closed schools and universities across the nation due to a severe energy crisis caused by a restriction on fuel imports imposed by Islamist insurgents.
Top education official announced on state television that all learning centers would be inactive until 9 November, noting that the travel of employees and students had been impacted by the blockade.
He stated that the government officials were “making every effort” to alleviate the situation so that classes could continue on 10 November.
For weeks, Mali has been experiencing a petrol crisis, especially in the main city, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a blockade by attacking transport vehicles on key routes.
Mali is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are transported by road from bordering countries such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.
Lengthy waits have been forming around petrol stations in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently grown silent.
The junta-led administration had previously promised citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the situation has persisted.
Last week, the American diplomatic mission in the capital announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would depart the country amid the worsening fuel shortage and escalating protection worries.
It said that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unforeseen manners.
The West African nation is presently governed by a military junta led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who assumed authority in a military overthrow in two years ago.
The ruling council had widespread approval when it came to authority, promising to deal with the long-running security crisis prompted by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.
The international UN troops and France's military had been sent in 2013 to combat the escalating insurgency.
These forces have left since the new administration came in, and the current administration has employed foreign fighters to address the violence.
However, the jihadist insurgency has continued and extensive regions of the north and east of the country remain outside government control.