Mali Closes Schools and Universities as Jihadist Blockade Intensifies Fuel Emergency
The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a severe energy crisis resulting from a restriction on petroleum supplies imposed by Islamist insurgents.
Top education official declared on public media that all learning centers would remain closed until November 9th, clarifying that the travel of personnel and learners had been affected by the blockade.
He emphasized that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to end the situation so that classes could restart on the tenth of November.
For several weeks, Mali has been grappling with a fuel shortage, particularly in the administrative center, after militants from an jihadist network initiated a restriction by striking tankers on primary roads.
Mali is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are delivered by truck from bordering countries such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.
Lengthy waits have been snaking around fuel outlets in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now apparently fallen quiet.
The military government had previously promised residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has endured.
Last week, the American diplomatic mission in the capital announced that non-essential diplomatic staff and their dependents would evacuate Mali amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and increasing protection worries.
It explained that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.
Mali is now led by a armed forces administration led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a takeover in 2021.
The ruling council had widespread approval when it came to authority, committing to tackle the long-running security crisis caused by a autonomy movement in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.
The international UN troops and France's military had been stationed in previously to combat the growing rebellion.
These forces have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the current administration has hired private military contractors to tackle the instability.
Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has continued and large parts of the north and east of the nation remain not under administrative command.
