The West African nation Shuts Down Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Blockade Exacerbates Fuel Shortage
Mali has closed schools and universities across the nation due to a severe energy crisis caused by a restriction on fuel imports enforced by militant groups.
The Education Minister declared on state television that all learning centers would stay shut until 9 November, clarifying that the transportation of personnel and students had been affected by the restrictions.
He asserted that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to end the emergency so that classes could restart on 10 November.
For several weeks, the nation has been experiencing a energy deficit, particularly in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an jihadist network initiated a embargo by striking tankers on primary roads.
The country is landlocked, so all energy resources are delivered by truck from neighboring states such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.
Lengthy waits have been winding around gas pumps in the capital in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly grown silent.
The ruling military council had previously assured residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the situation has persisted.
In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would evacuate the country amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and increasing security concerns.
It noted that the energy interruptions had affected the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.
Mali is presently governed by a military junta under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a coup in recently.
The military government had popular support when it took power, promising to address the protracted safety emergency caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.
The United Nations stabilization force and France's military had been stationed in 2013 to address the growing rebellion.
Both have left since the junta took over, and the military government has contracted foreign fighters to address the instability.
However, the Islamist rebellion has endured and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain outside government control.