Mali Shuts Down Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Blockade Worsens Fuel Shortage
The landlocked West African country has closed educational facilities and colleges across the nation due to a severe fuel scarcity triggered by a blockade on petroleum supplies implemented by militant groups.
Minister of Education announced on public media that all learning centers would remain closed until November 9th, clarifying that the movement of staff and learners had been disrupted by the restrictions.
He emphasized that the authorities were “making every effort” to end the emergency so that classes could continue on 10 November.
For a number of weeks, the nation has been facing a petrol crisis, especially in the administrative center, after armed groups from an jihadist network enforced a blockade by striking fuel trucks on primary roads.
The country is landlocked, so all energy resources are transported by truck from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.
Extended lines have been winding around gas pumps in the capital in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly fallen quiet.
The junta-led administration had in recent days reassured residents that it was only a passing concern, but the situation has continued.
Recently, the US Embassy in the capital announced that non-essential diplomatic staff and their dependents would evacuate the country amid the worsening petrol scarcity and escalating protection worries.
It explained that the fuel disruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unexpected forms.
The West African nation is now led by a army council headed by the military leader, who seized power in a takeover in two years ago.
The junta had public backing when it assumed control, committing to address the long-running security crisis prompted by a independence uprising in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.
The international UN troops and European soldiers had been sent in a decade ago to combat the escalating insurgency.
These forces have departed since the junta took over, and the ruling council has hired private military contractors to combat the instability.
Nevertheless, the militant uprising has endured and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain beyond state authority.
