Mali Shuts Down Educational Institutions and Universities as Islamist Militant Restrictions Exacerbates Fuel Emergency
Mali has closed educational facilities and colleges countrywide due to a acute energy crisis triggered by a embargo on fuel imports enforced by Islamist insurgents.
Top education official stated on national broadcast that all education institutions would be inactive until 9 November, clarifying that the transportation of personnel and learners had been impacted by the blockade.
He stated that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to end the crisis so that educational activities could restart on November 10th.
For weeks, Mali has been facing a petrol crisis, especially in the main city, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a embargo by attacking transport vehicles on major highways.
The country is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are delivered by road from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.
Long queues have been forming around gas pumps in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently fallen quiet.
The military government had in recent days reassured the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has endured.
Recently, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would leave Mali amid the deteriorating energy crisis and escalating security concerns.
It said that the fuel disruptions had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unexpected forms.
Mali is currently ruled by a military junta headed by the military leader, who assumed authority in a military overthrow in two years ago.
The junta had popular support when it assumed control, vowing to deal with the long-running security crisis prompted by a autonomy movement in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.
The UN peacekeeping mission and France's military had been sent in previously to combat the growing rebellion.
The international troops have departed since the military assumed power, and the current administration has employed Russian mercenaries to combat the violence.
Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has continued and extensive regions of the north and east of the state remain not under administrative command.