Mali Closes Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Blockade Worsens Fuel Shortage
Mali has suspended schools and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a critical energy crisis triggered by a blockade on energy resources imposed by Islamist insurgents.
The Education Minister declared on national broadcast that all learning centers would stay shut until the ninth of November, clarifying that the movement of employees and pupils had been impacted by the restrictions.
He stated that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to resolve the crisis so that academic sessions could restart on November 10th.
For several weeks, Mali has been grappling with a energy deficit, notably in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a restriction by striking transport vehicles on primary roads.
Mali is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are delivered by truck from bordering countries such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.
Extended lines have been forming around petrol stations in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly grown silent.
The military government had earlier this month promised residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has continued.
Last week, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would leave Mali amid the intensifying energy crisis and increasing protection worries.
It said that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the energy availability and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.
The West African nation is currently ruled by a armed forces administration headed by the military leader, who assumed authority in a takeover in recently.
The junta had widespread approval when it assumed control, vowing to deal with the ongoing instability prompted by a autonomy movement in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.
The United Nations stabilization force and European soldiers had been sent in 2013 to combat the growing rebellion.
The international troops have left since the new administration came in, and the military government has employed private military contractors to combat the instability.
Nevertheless, the militant uprising has endured and significant areas of the north and east of the state remain beyond state authority.