The West African nation Closes Schools and Universities as Jihadist Blockade Exacerbates Petrol Crisis
Mali has temporarily halted schools and colleges across the nation due to a critical energy crisis caused by a blockade on fuel imports enforced by militant groups.
Top education official declared on state television that all academic facilities would remain closed until 9 November, explaining that the travel of employees and pupils had been affected by the restrictions.
He stated that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to resolve the crisis so that educational activities could restart on the tenth of November.
For weeks, Mali has been grappling with a petrol crisis, notably in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a embargo by attacking transport vehicles on key routes.
The country is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are transported by land routes from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.
Extended lines have been snaking around petrol stations in the main city in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now allegedly fallen quiet.
The junta-led administration had earlier this month reassured residents that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has persisted.
In the past few days, the US Embassy in the capital stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would evacuate the country amid the intensifying fuel shortage and escalating security concerns.
It said that the petroleum supply issues had affected the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unforeseen manners.
Mali is now led by a army council under the leadership of the military leader, who seized power in a takeover in 2021.
The military government had widespread approval when it came to authority, promising to tackle the protracted safety emergency caused by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.
The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been sent in 2013 to combat the growing rebellion.
The international troops have left since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has hired Russian mercenaries to tackle the violence.
Nonetheless, the militant uprising has continued and significant areas of the north and east of the nation remain outside government control.
