The West African nation Suspends Schools and Universities as Jihadist Restrictions Exacerbates Fuel Emergency
Mali has closed schools and colleges countrywide due to a severe energy crisis triggered by a blockade on energy resources enforced by militant groups.
Top education official stated on state television that all education institutions would remain closed until November 9th, noting that the movement of personnel and pupils had been impacted by the restrictions.
He asserted that the administration were “working tirelessly” to resolve the emergency so that classes could resume on 10 November.
For several weeks, Mali has been experiencing a fuel shortage, especially in the main city, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a embargo by attacking fuel trucks on primary roads.
The country is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are transported by land routes from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.
Long queues have been snaking around fuel outlets in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly grown silent.
The junta-led administration had previously reassured the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has persisted.
Last week, the American diplomatic mission in the capital declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would leave Mali amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and increasing safety issues.
It explained that the energy interruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unforeseen manners.
The West African nation is currently ruled by a armed forces administration led by the military leader, who seized power in a takeover in two years ago.
The junta had widespread approval when it came to authority, vowing to tackle the long-running security crisis triggered by a separatist rebellion in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by extremist groups.
The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been sent in 2013 to combat the growing rebellion.
The international troops have departed since the military assumed power, and the military government has contracted private military contractors to combat the instability.
Nevertheless, the militant uprising has endured and significant areas of the north and east of the country remain not under administrative command.