The West African nation Shuts Down Schools and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Blockade Exacerbates Fuel Shortage
Mali has suspended schools and universities throughout the country due to a severe petrol shortage resulting from a embargo on fuel imports implemented by Islamist insurgents.
Top education official declared on state television that all education institutions would be inactive until 9 November, clarifying that the movement of employees and pupils had been affected by the restrictions.
He emphasized that the government officials were “making every effort” to resolve the emergency so that classes could resume on the tenth of November.
For weeks, Mali has been facing a energy deficit, especially in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a blockade by striking tankers on key routes.
Mali is landlocked, so all petroleum products are delivered by truck from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.
Lengthy waits have been snaking around fuel outlets in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly become deserted.
The military government had earlier this month assured citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has continued.
In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in the capital announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would depart the country amid the intensifying energy crisis and growing security concerns.
It explained that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.
Mali is now led by a military junta led by General Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in recently.
The ruling council had widespread approval when it came to authority, vowing to tackle the ongoing instability caused by a autonomy movement in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by Islamist militants.
The international UN troops and France's military had been sent in 2013 to deal with the escalating insurgency.
The international troops have departed since the military assumed power, and the military government has contracted Russian mercenaries to combat the instability.
Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has continued and extensive regions of the north and east of the nation remain beyond state authority.
