The West African nation Suspends Schools and Universities as Islamist Militant Blockade Intensifies Petrol Crisis
The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a acute energy crisis triggered by a embargo on fuel imports imposed by jihadist fighters.
Minister of Education announced on national broadcast that all education institutions would remain closed until 9 November, explaining that the movement of staff and students had been disrupted by the blockade.
He stated that the administration were “doing everything possible” to end the situation so that educational activities could resume on the tenth of November.
For a number of weeks, the nation has been grappling with a petrol crisis, especially in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a blockade by attacking transport vehicles on key routes.
The country is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are delivered by truck from neighboring states such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.
Lengthy waits have been forming around fuel outlets in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly become deserted.
The ruling military council had previously reassured residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has endured.
Recently, the American diplomatic mission in the capital declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would evacuate the country amid the worsening fuel shortage and escalating safety issues.
It explained that the fuel disruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.
Mali is currently ruled by a armed forces administration under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who assumed authority in a military overthrow in two years ago.
The junta had public backing when it assumed control, committing to deal with the protracted safety emergency caused by a autonomy movement in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.
The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been sent in previously to deal with the increasing militant activity.
Both have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the current administration has employed Russian mercenaries to address the violence.
Nonetheless, the militant uprising has continued and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain beyond state authority.