Mali Suspends Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Blockade Worsens Fuel Crisis
Mali has suspended schools and universities throughout the country due to a critical energy crisis caused by a embargo on fuel imports implemented by Islamist insurgents.
Top education official declared on state television that all education institutions would stay shut until 9 November, explaining that the transportation of employees and pupils had been disrupted by the blockade.
He asserted that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to resolve the crisis so that classes could restart on 10 November.
For several weeks, the nation has been facing a energy deficit, especially in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a restriction by targeting transport vehicles on major highways.
Mali is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are transported by land routes from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.
Extended lines have been forming around fuel outlets in the capital in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly become deserted.
The ruling military council had previously assured citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has continued.
Recently, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako announced that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families would leave the country amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and escalating security concerns.
It noted that the energy interruptions had disrupted the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.
Mali is currently ruled by a army council headed by General GoĂŻta, who seized power in a military overthrow in 2021.
The ruling council had public backing when it took power, committing to deal with the long-running security crisis prompted by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.
The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been stationed in previously to deal with the escalating insurgency.
Both have departed since the junta took over, and the ruling council has hired private military contractors to address the violence.
Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has endured and significant areas of the north and east of the nation remain not under administrative command.
