Mali Suspends Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Blockade Exacerbates Fuel Emergency
The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and universities countrywide due to a severe petrol shortage resulting from a embargo on energy resources implemented by jihadist fighters.
The Education Minister stated on public media that all learning centers would stay shut until 9 November, clarifying that the transportation of personnel and learners had been disrupted by the blockade.
He emphasized that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to resolve the situation so that educational activities could resume on November 10th.
For a number of weeks, Mali has been facing a petrol crisis, particularly in the main city, after armed groups from an jihadist network imposed a restriction by attacking transport vehicles on primary roads.
The country is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are brought in by land routes from bordering countries such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.
Lengthy waits have been forming around fuel outlets in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly fallen quiet.
The military government had previously reassured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has endured.
In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in the capital stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would depart the country amid the intensifying energy crisis and escalating protection worries.
It explained that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.
The West African nation is currently ruled by a army council headed by Gen Assimi GoĂŻta, who seized power in a military overthrow in recently.
The junta had popular support when it took power, vowing to address the ongoing instability triggered by a autonomy movement in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.
The international UN troops and French forces had been sent in 2013 to address the growing rebellion.
These forces have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the current administration has contracted Russian mercenaries to combat the violence.
Nevertheless, the militant uprising has persisted and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain outside government control.