The West African nation Suspends Educational Institutions and Universities as Islamist Militant Restrictions Intensifies Fuel Shortage
The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and universities across the nation due to a critical petrol shortage resulting from a embargo on energy resources imposed by militant groups.
Top education official stated on public media that all education institutions would stay shut until the ninth of November, clarifying that the travel of staff and pupils had been affected by the restrictions.
He emphasized that the authorities were “making every effort” to resolve the crisis so that classes could resume on the tenth of November.
For weeks, Mali has been grappling with a energy deficit, notably in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a blockade by striking tankers on major highways.
The country is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are delivered by road from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.
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 fallen quiet.
The junta-led administration had earlier this month assured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has endured.
Last week, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako announced that non-essential diplomatic staff and their dependents would leave the country amid the deteriorating energy crisis and escalating safety issues.
It noted that the petroleum supply issues had affected the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.
Mali is now led by a military junta headed by the military leader, who took control in a military overthrow in 2021.
The junta had popular support when it came to authority, vowing to address the long-running security crisis caused by a independence uprising in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.
The international UN troops and France's military had been sent in 2013 to deal with the escalating insurgency.
The international troops have departed since the military assumed power, and the current administration has employed Russian mercenaries to address the instability.
However, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain outside government control.
