The West African nation Suspends Educational Institutions and Universities as Islamist Militant Restrictions Exacerbates Fuel Emergency
The landlocked West African country has suspended educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a critical petrol shortage caused by a restriction on energy resources implemented by militant groups.
The Education Minister stated on public media that all learning centers would stay shut until November 9th, clarifying that the movement of staff and students had been affected by the blockade.
He stated that the administration were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the crisis so that educational activities could continue on November 10th.
For a number of weeks, Mali has been facing a petrol crisis, notably in the administrative center, after insurgents from an jihadist network imposed a restriction by striking tankers on key routes.
Mali is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are delivered by truck from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.
Long queues have been snaking around petrol stations in the capital in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now apparently become deserted.
The military government had in recent days assured the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has persisted.
In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would depart Mali amid the deteriorating fuel shortage and growing safety issues.
It explained that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.
Mali is currently ruled by a armed forces administration led by General Goïta, who seized power in a coup in recently.
The junta had popular support when it took power, vowing to deal with the ongoing instability caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.
The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been sent in a decade ago to address the escalating insurgency.
These forces have departed since the new administration came in, and the military government has hired private military contractors to tackle the instability.
Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain beyond state authority.
