Mali Closes Schools and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Restrictions Exacerbates Fuel Crisis
Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and colleges countrywide due to a critical fuel scarcity caused by a embargo on fuel imports implemented by militant groups.
The Education Minister stated on state television that all education institutions would remain closed until 9 November, clarifying that the movement of staff and students had been disrupted by the imposed limitations.
He stated that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to end the crisis so that educational activities could resume on November 10th.
For weeks, Mali has been experiencing a petrol crisis, particularly in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a embargo by attacking tankers on primary roads.
Mali is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are transported by truck from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.
Long queues have been winding around gas pumps in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly grown silent.
The junta-led administration had in recent days assured the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has continued.
Last week, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would leave the country amid the intensifying energy crisis and growing protection worries.
It noted that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.
The West African nation is presently governed by a military junta headed by General GoĂŻta, who seized power in a takeover in two years ago.
The junta had popular support when it assumed control, committing to deal with the long-running security crisis prompted by a separatist rebellion in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.
The international UN troops and French forces had been sent in 2013 to deal with the increasing militant activity.
Both have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has employed foreign fighters to tackle the instability.
However, the militant uprising has continued and large parts of the north and east of the state remain outside government control.
