The West African nation Closes Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Blockade Exacerbates Fuel Emergency
Mali has closed schools and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a acute energy crisis resulting from a blockade on petroleum supplies implemented by militant groups.
Top education official announced on national broadcast that all academic facilities would be inactive until 9 November, noting that the travel of personnel and learners had been affected by the restrictions.
He emphasized that the administration were “working tirelessly” to end the situation so that academic sessions could restart on November 10th.
For a number of weeks, Mali has been facing a energy deficit, especially in the main city, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a blockade by targeting fuel trucks on primary roads.
The country is without coastal access, so all petroleum products are brought in by truck from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.
Extended lines have been snaking around gas pumps in the main city in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly become deserted.
The junta-led administration had earlier this month promised residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has continued.
Last week, the American diplomatic mission in the capital declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would leave Mali amid the intensifying fuel shortage and increasing protection worries.
It explained that the petroleum supply issues had affected the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unforeseen manners.
Mali is currently ruled by a army council led by General Goïta, who seized power in a coup in two years ago.
The junta had widespread approval when it took power, committing to deal with the protracted safety emergency triggered by a autonomy movement in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.
The international UN troops and French forces had been sent in previously to combat the growing rebellion.
The international troops have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has employed Russian mercenaries to tackle the violence.
However, the Islamist rebellion has endured and significant areas of the north and east of the state remain beyond state authority.
