Mali Shuts Down Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Restrictions Exacerbates Petrol Crisis
Mali has closed schools and colleges across the nation due to a critical petrol shortage resulting from a blockade on energy resources imposed by Islamist insurgents.
Minister of Education declared on public media that all education institutions would be inactive until November 9th, clarifying that the movement of staff and students had been affected by the restrictions.
He emphasized that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to resolve the situation so that educational activities could continue on November 10th.
For weeks, the nation has been grappling with a energy deficit, especially in the main city, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a embargo by attacking tankers on major highways.
Mali is landlocked, so all energy resources are transported by road from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.
Long queues have been snaking around gas pumps in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently become deserted.
The ruling military council had in recent days assured citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has endured.
In the past few days, the US Embassy in Bamako declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would depart the country amid the worsening petrol scarcity and increasing protection worries.
It explained that the energy interruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.
The West African nation is now led by a armed forces administration headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a military overthrow in 2021.
The military government had widespread approval when it took power, promising to address the protracted safety emergency prompted by a autonomy movement in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.
The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been sent in previously to address the escalating insurgency.
The international troops have departed since the junta took over, and the ruling council has hired Russian mercenaries to address the instability.
However, the Islamist rebellion has endured and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain beyond state authority.
