Mali Shuts Down Schools and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Blockade Exacerbates Petrol Shortage
Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and colleges countrywide due to a severe energy crisis triggered by a restriction on energy resources enforced by Islamist insurgents.
Minister of Education declared on state television that all learning centers would stay shut until the ninth of November, clarifying that the transportation of staff and students had been impacted by the restrictions.
He emphasized that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the emergency so that classes could restart on November 10th.
For several weeks, Mali has been grappling with a fuel shortage, notably in the main city, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a embargo by targeting tankers on primary roads.
The country is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are transported by road from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.
Lengthy waits have been forming around gas pumps in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly become deserted.
The military government had in recent days assured residents that it was only a passing concern, but the situation has continued.
Recently, the United States diplomatic office in the capital declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would depart the country amid the deteriorating energy crisis and growing protection worries.
It said that the fuel disruptions had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.
Mali is presently governed by a army council led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a coup in recently.
The junta had popular support when it assumed control, promising to tackle the protracted safety emergency triggered by a separatist rebellion in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.
The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been deployed in previously to address the increasing militant activity.
These forces have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the military government has hired foreign fighters to address the instability.
However, the Islamist rebellion has continued and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain not under administrative command.