The West African nation Closes Educational Institutions and Universities as Jihadist Blockade Intensifies Fuel Crisis
The landlocked West African country has suspended educational facilities and colleges countrywide due to a severe fuel scarcity caused by a blockade on petroleum supplies enforced by jihadist fighters.
Top education official announced on public media that all education institutions would stay shut until the ninth of November, explaining that the travel of staff and learners had been impacted by the blockade.
He stated that the authorities were “making every effort” to resolve the emergency so that academic sessions could restart on November 10th.
For weeks, the nation has been facing a fuel shortage, notably in the main city, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a embargo by attacking transport vehicles on major highways.
Mali is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are delivered by land routes from bordering countries such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.
Extended lines have been forming around gas pumps in the main city in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly become deserted.
The military government had in recent days promised citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has continued.
Recently, the US Embassy in the capital declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their dependents would evacuate Mali amid the deteriorating energy crisis and increasing protection worries.
It explained that the energy interruptions had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.
The West African nation is presently governed by a army council led by the military leader, who assumed authority in a coup in two years ago.
The junta had widespread approval when it assumed control, vowing to tackle the long-running security crisis prompted by a independence uprising in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.
The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been deployed in previously to combat the growing rebellion.
The international troops have departed since the military assumed power, and the current administration has employed foreign fighters to tackle the instability.
Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has endured and large parts of the north and east of the country remain outside government control.
