The West African nation Suspends Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Restrictions Exacerbates Fuel Emergency
The landlocked West African country has closed educational facilities and universities across the nation due to a severe petrol shortage caused by a embargo on energy resources imposed by jihadist fighters.
The Education Minister stated on national broadcast that all learning centers would stay shut until 9 November, noting that the movement of staff and pupils had been affected by the blockade.
He emphasized that the administration were “making every effort” to resolve the emergency so that educational activities could restart on the tenth of November.
For a number of weeks, the nation has been facing a petrol crisis, especially in the main city, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a restriction by striking transport vehicles on primary roads.
The country is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are transported by truck from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.
Long queues have been winding around fuel outlets in the main city in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently grown silent.
The junta-led administration had in recent days assured the public that it was only a passing concern, but the situation has endured.
Last week, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako announced that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families would evacuate Mali amid the worsening petrol scarcity and increasing protection worries.
It said that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the energy availability and had the “capacity to affect” the overall security situation in unexpected forms.
The West African nation is now led by a military junta headed by General Goïta, who assumed authority in a military overthrow in recently.
The military government had popular support when it took power, promising to tackle the protracted safety emergency triggered by a independence uprising in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.
The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been sent in a decade ago to address the increasing militant activity.
The international troops have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the current administration has employed private military contractors to combat the violence.
However, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain outside government control.
