The West African nation Suspends Educational Institutions and Universities as Jihadist Restrictions Worsens Fuel Shortage
The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted schools and colleges throughout the country due to a critical energy crisis resulting from a blockade on fuel imports implemented by Islamist insurgents.
Top education official announced on national broadcast that all academic facilities would stay shut until 9 November, explaining that the movement of employees and learners had been affected by the imposed limitations.
He asserted that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to end the situation so that classes could restart on 10 November.
For several weeks, Mali has been facing a petrol crisis, especially in the main city, after insurgents from an jihadist network imposed a restriction by striking tankers on major highways.
Mali is landlocked, so all energy resources are transported by land routes from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.
Long queues have been winding around petrol stations in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly fallen quiet.
The military government had previously promised the public that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has persisted.
Last week, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would evacuate the country amid the deteriorating energy crisis and increasing safety issues.
It said that the energy interruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.
Mali is now led by a armed forces administration under the leadership of General Goïta, who took control in a coup in two years ago.
The ruling council had popular support when it took power, promising to deal with the protracted safety emergency prompted by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.
The international UN troops and France's military had been deployed in a decade ago to address the escalating insurgency.
These forces have left since the junta took over, and the military government has employed Russian mercenaries to combat the insecurity.
Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has endured and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain outside government control.
