The West African nation Closes Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Blockade Exacerbates Fuel Crisis
The landlocked West African country has closed schools and universities countrywide due to a acute energy crisis caused by a blockade on fuel imports imposed by Islamist insurgents.
The Education Minister announced on state television that all academic facilities would remain closed until November 9th, noting that the travel of personnel and students had been impacted by the restrictions.
He emphasized that the government officials were “making every effort” to alleviate the crisis so that educational activities could resume on November 10th.
For weeks, Mali has been facing a fuel shortage, especially in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a blockade by striking fuel trucks on key routes.
The country is landlocked, so all petroleum products are brought in by truck from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.
Long queues have been winding around petrol stations in the main city in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly grown silent.
The ruling military council had earlier this month promised the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has continued.
In the past few days, the US Embassy in the capital announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would leave Mali amid the worsening petrol scarcity and increasing protection worries.
It noted that the energy interruptions had disrupted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unforeseen manners.
Mali is currently ruled by a army council led by General GoĂŻta, who seized power in a coup in recently.
The military government had popular support when it came to authority, promising to address the ongoing instability caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.
The international UN troops and European soldiers had been sent in a decade ago to deal with the growing rebellion.
Both have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has employed foreign fighters to combat the instability.
Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and extensive regions of the north and east of the nation remain outside government control.
