Mali Shuts Down Schools and Universities as Jihadist Blockade Exacerbates Fuel Emergency
The landlocked West African country has closed educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a critical energy crisis caused by a blockade on energy resources enforced by jihadist fighters.
Top education official stated on public media that all learning centers would stay shut until the ninth of November, explaining that the travel of personnel and learners had been impacted by the blockade.
He stated that the administration were “doing everything possible” to resolve the situation so that educational activities could resume on the tenth of November.
For weeks, Mali has been experiencing a fuel shortage, notably in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a embargo by targeting fuel trucks on primary roads.
The country is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are transported by road from neighboring states such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.
Long queues have been forming around fuel outlets in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly become deserted.
The ruling military council had in recent days assured citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has endured.
Recently, the United States diplomatic office in the capital declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would evacuate the country amid the intensifying fuel shortage and increasing protection worries.
It noted that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.
The West African nation is presently governed by a armed forces administration led by the military leader, who assumed authority in a takeover in 2021.
The junta had public backing when it came to authority, committing to address the protracted safety emergency prompted by a autonomy movement in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.
The international UN troops and French forces had been stationed in previously to deal with the increasing militant activity.
The international troops have left since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has hired foreign fighters to address the violence.
Nonetheless, the militant uprising has continued and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain beyond state authority.
