The West African nation Closes Schools and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Restrictions Exacerbates Petrol Crisis
Mali has suspended schools and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a acute fuel scarcity triggered by a restriction on energy resources imposed by jihadist fighters.
Minister of Education stated on public media that all learning centers would stay shut until the ninth of 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 situation so that classes could continue on November 10th.
For a number of weeks, the nation has been grappling with a fuel shortage, particularly in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a blockade by striking fuel trucks on major highways.
Mali is landlocked, so all petroleum products are delivered by road from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.
Extended lines have been snaking around gas pumps in the capital in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly become deserted.
The military government had earlier this month assured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the situation has persisted.
Last week, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families would evacuate the country amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and escalating safety issues.
It explained that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the power distribution and had the “ability to disturb” the broader protection environment in unforeseen manners.
Mali is currently ruled by a military junta led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in two years ago.
The ruling council had popular support when it assumed control, vowing to tackle the long-running security crisis triggered by a autonomy movement in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.
The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been sent in a decade ago to combat the growing rebellion.
The international troops have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the military government has contracted Russian mercenaries to tackle the violence.
Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has continued and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain outside government control.
