The West African nation Shuts Down Schools and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Blockade Exacerbates Petrol Shortage
Mali has closed schools and universities throughout the country due to a critical energy crisis resulting from a embargo on petroleum supplies implemented by jihadist fighters.
Top education official stated on public media that all learning centers would be inactive until 9 November, noting that the travel of staff and pupils had been affected by the blockade.
He stated that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to resolve the crisis so that academic sessions could resume on November 10th.
For several weeks, the nation has been grappling with a fuel shortage, notably in the administrative center, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda affiliate initiated a restriction by targeting tankers on key routes.
The country is without coastal access, so all energy resources are delivered by truck from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.
Long queues have been winding around petrol stations in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently become deserted.
The ruling military council had in recent days reassured residents that it was only a passing concern, but the situation has endured.
Recently, the US Embassy in the capital announced that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would leave Mali amid the deteriorating fuel shortage and escalating safety issues.
It said that the fuel disruptions had impacted the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.
The West African nation is presently governed by a armed forces administration headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a coup in two years ago.
The ruling council had public backing when it took power, promising to address the protracted safety emergency triggered by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.
The international UN troops and European soldiers had been deployed in previously to deal with the growing rebellion.
These forces have left since the military assumed power, and the current administration has employed Russian mercenaries to address the insecurity.
However, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain not under administrative command.
