Mali Closes Schools and Universities as Islamist Militant Restrictions Exacerbates Petrol Shortage
The landlocked West African country has suspended educational facilities and universities across the nation due to a severe fuel scarcity resulting from a blockade on energy resources implemented by militant groups.
Top education official stated on public media that all education institutions would stay shut until 9 November, clarifying that the movement of employees and pupils had been disrupted by the blockade.
He stated that the administration were “doing everything possible” to end the crisis so that educational activities could resume on 10 November.
For weeks, Mali has been grappling with a energy deficit, notably in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate initiated a blockade by attacking fuel trucks on primary roads.
Mali is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are transported by land routes from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.
Long queues have been forming around petrol stations in the capital in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly grown silent.
The junta-led administration had earlier this month reassured the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has endured.
Recently, the American diplomatic mission in the capital declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would leave Mali amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and growing protection worries.
It explained that the petroleum supply issues had affected the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unforeseen manners.
The West African nation is now led by a armed forces administration headed by the military leader, who seized power in a takeover in two years ago.
The junta had widespread approval when it came to authority, promising to deal with the long-running security crisis prompted by a autonomy movement in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.
The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been deployed in a decade ago to combat the growing rebellion.
These forces have departed since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has contracted foreign fighters to tackle the insecurity.
However, the jihadist insurgency has continued and large parts of the north and east of the nation remain outside government control.
