Mali Shuts Down Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Restrictions Intensifies Fuel Crisis
The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted schools and colleges across the nation due to a severe energy crisis triggered by a embargo on petroleum supplies enforced by militant groups.
The Education Minister stated on state television that all education institutions would stay shut until the ninth of November, noting that the movement of staff and students had been affected by the imposed limitations.
He stated that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the emergency so that academic sessions could continue on November 10th.
For weeks, Mali has been grappling with a energy deficit, particularly in the main city, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a restriction by targeting tankers on major highways.
Mali is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are transported by road from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.
Extended lines have been winding around fuel outlets in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently become deserted.
The military government had earlier this month promised residents that it was only a passing concern, but the crisis has persisted.
In the past few days, the US Embassy in the capital announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would depart Mali amid the worsening fuel shortage and increasing safety issues.
It explained that the fuel disruptions had affected the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.
The West African nation is currently ruled by a armed forces administration headed by the military leader, who seized power in a coup in two years ago.
The junta had popular support when it came to authority, vowing to tackle the long-running security crisis caused by a independence uprising in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by extremist groups.
The international UN troops and French forces had been sent in 2013 to deal with the increasing militant activity.
The international troops have left since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has employed foreign fighters to combat the insecurity.
Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has continued and extensive regions of the north and east of the country remain beyond state authority.