The West African nation Suspends Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Blockade Worsens Fuel Crisis
Mali has closed schools and universities throughout the country due to a acute fuel scarcity triggered by a blockade on energy resources implemented by Islamist insurgents.
Top education official announced on national broadcast that all education institutions would remain closed until the ninth of November, clarifying that the travel of employees and pupils had been impacted by the restrictions.
He asserted that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to resolve the crisis so that academic sessions could restart on the tenth of November.
For weeks, the nation has been facing a energy deficit, especially in the main city, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a blockade by striking tankers on major highways.
Mali is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are brought in by land routes from bordering countries such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.
Extended lines have been winding around gas pumps in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently become deserted.
The ruling military council had in recent days reassured residents that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has persisted.
In the past few days, the US Embassy in the capital declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would evacuate the country amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and escalating safety issues.
It noted that the fuel disruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.
The West African nation is currently ruled by a military junta headed by the military leader, who took control in a takeover in recently.
The ruling council had widespread approval when it came to authority, vowing to deal with the ongoing instability prompted by a autonomy movement in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by extremist groups.
The international UN troops and European soldiers had been stationed in previously to address the growing rebellion.
Both have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has employed foreign fighters to tackle the instability.
However, the militant uprising has persisted and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain outside government control.