The West African nation Shuts Down Educational Institutions and Universities as Islamist Militant Blockade Intensifies Fuel Emergency
The landlocked West African country has suspended educational facilities and universities countrywide due to a acute energy crisis caused by a restriction on energy resources enforced by militant groups.
Top education official stated on public media that all learning centers would be inactive until 9 November, clarifying that the movement of staff and pupils had been disrupted by the blockade.
He stated that the administration were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the crisis so that educational activities could continue on 10 November.
For weeks, Mali has been grappling with a fuel shortage, notably in the administrative center, after armed groups from an jihadist network imposed a blockade by striking tankers on major highways.
Mali is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are transported by land routes from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.
Extended lines have been forming around fuel outlets in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently become deserted.
The junta-led administration had earlier this month assured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has persisted.
Recently, the US Embassy in Bamako announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would leave Mali amid the worsening energy crisis and escalating protection worries.
It explained that the fuel disruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unforeseen manners.
Mali is now led by a armed forces administration headed by General Goïta, who took control in a military overthrow in two years ago.
The military government had widespread approval when it came to authority, vowing to address the ongoing instability prompted by a separatist rebellion in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.
The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been deployed in previously to deal with the increasing militant activity.
Both have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the military government has contracted private military contractors to tackle the insecurity.
Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain outside government control.