Mali Suspends Schools and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Restrictions Exacerbates Petrol Crisis
The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and colleges countrywide due to a acute fuel scarcity resulting from a embargo on energy resources implemented by militant groups.
Minister of Education stated on state television that all learning centers would stay shut until November 9th, noting that the movement of personnel and pupils had been impacted by the imposed limitations.
He asserted that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to end the crisis so that classes could resume on the tenth of November.
For weeks, the nation has been facing a fuel shortage, especially in the main city, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a restriction by targeting transport vehicles on key routes.
Mali is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are delivered by land routes from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.
Long queues have been forming around petrol stations in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly grown silent.
The junta-led administration had in recent days reassured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has continued.
In the past few days, the US Embassy in Bamako declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would leave Mali amid the worsening fuel shortage and increasing safety issues.
It noted that the fuel disruptions had affected the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.
The West African nation is now led by a military junta headed by the military leader, who took control in a military overthrow in 2021.
The junta had public backing when it came to authority, committing to address the protracted safety emergency triggered by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.
The United Nations stabilization force and European soldiers had been deployed in 2013 to address the increasing militant activity.
These forces have departed since the military assumed power, and the current administration has employed private military contractors to tackle the instability.
Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has endured and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain outside government control.
