The West African nation Suspends Schools and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Restrictions Exacerbates Fuel Crisis
Mali has temporarily halted schools and universities across the nation due to a critical energy crisis triggered by a embargo on petroleum supplies implemented by militant groups.
Top education official declared on national broadcast that all education institutions would be inactive until 9 November, clarifying that the transportation of staff and students had been affected by the blockade.
He asserted that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to resolve the emergency so that educational activities could restart on the tenth of November.
For a number of weeks, the nation has been experiencing a energy deficit, notably in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an jihadist network imposed a embargo by striking tankers on major highways.
The country is without coastal access, so all petroleum products are delivered by land routes from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.
Long queues have been winding around gas pumps in Bamako 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 persisted.
In the past few days, the US Embassy in the capital declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would leave Mali amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and escalating safety issues.
It noted that the energy interruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unforeseen manners.
The West African nation is presently governed by a military junta under the leadership of the military leader, who took control in a coup in recently.
The military government had public backing when it assumed control, promising to tackle the long-running security crisis caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.
The international UN troops and European soldiers had been deployed in previously to deal with the growing rebellion.
Both have left since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has contracted private military contractors to address the insecurity.
However, the jihadist insurgency has continued and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain outside government control.