Mali Shuts Down Schools and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Restrictions Worsens Fuel Crisis
Mali has closed educational facilities and colleges countrywide due to a critical fuel scarcity caused by a embargo on petroleum supplies enforced by militant groups.
Top education official declared on state television that all learning centers would remain closed until November 9th, explaining that the transportation of staff and students had been impacted by the blockade.
He stated that the authorities were “making every effort” to alleviate the situation so that academic sessions could resume on the tenth of November.
For weeks, the nation has been facing a fuel shortage, especially in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an jihadist network initiated a embargo by attacking transport vehicles on key routes.
Mali is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are transported by land routes from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and CĂ´te d'Ivoire.
Long queues have been winding around fuel outlets in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly fallen quiet.
The ruling military council had earlier this month reassured the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the situation has continued.
In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would depart Mali amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and increasing protection worries.
It explained that the fuel disruptions had impacted the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.
Mali is presently governed by a military junta headed by Gen Assimi GoĂŻta, who seized power in a military overthrow in two years ago.
The junta had public backing when it assumed control, committing to deal with the ongoing instability prompted by a independence uprising in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.
The United Nations stabilization force and European soldiers had been sent in a decade ago to combat the escalating insurgency.
These forces have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the military government has hired private military contractors to address the violence.
Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has continued and extensive regions of the north and east of the country remain outside government control.
