Mali Suspends Schools and Universities as Islamist Militant Restrictions Exacerbates Fuel Crisis
The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a acute petrol shortage resulting from a blockade on fuel imports implemented by militant groups.
The Education Minister stated on public media that all education institutions would remain closed until 9 November, noting that the transportation of employees and learners had been disrupted by the imposed limitations.
He emphasized that the administration were “working tirelessly” to resolve the situation so that educational activities could resume on 10 November.
For a number of weeks, Mali has been grappling with a petrol crisis, notably in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a restriction by attacking fuel trucks on major highways.
The country is landlocked, so all energy resources are brought in by land routes from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.
Long queues have been snaking around fuel outlets in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now apparently grown silent.
The military government had in recent days reassured residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has persisted.
Last week, the United States diplomatic office in the capital stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their dependents would leave Mali amid the intensifying fuel shortage and increasing protection worries.
It explained that the energy interruptions had disrupted the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.
The West African nation is presently governed by a military junta led by General Goïta, who seized power in a coup in recently.
The junta had public backing when it took power, committing to address the ongoing instability prompted by a independence uprising in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.
The United Nations stabilization force and European soldiers had been deployed in previously to address the increasing militant activity.
These forces have left since the junta took over, and the ruling council has contracted private military contractors to tackle the insecurity.
Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has endured and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain beyond state authority.
