The West African nation Suspends Schools and Universities as Jihadist Restrictions Intensifies Fuel Crisis
Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a severe energy crisis caused by a blockade on energy resources imposed by jihadist fighters.
Minister of Education stated on state television that all learning centers would remain closed until the ninth of November, clarifying that the transportation of personnel and students had been impacted by the blockade.
He stated that the administration were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the situation so that educational activities could continue on November 10th.
For a number of weeks, the nation has been facing a energy deficit, especially in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a restriction by targeting transport vehicles on major highways.
The country is landlocked, so all petroleum products 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 last several days, 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 short-term problem, but the crisis has persisted.
In the past few days, the US Embassy in the capital declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would leave the country amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and growing protection worries.
It noted that the energy interruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.
The West African nation is currently ruled by a military junta headed by the military leader, who seized power in a takeover in recently.
The ruling council had public backing when it assumed control, promising to deal with the protracted safety emergency caused by a independence uprising in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.
The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been deployed in previously to deal with the increasing militant activity.
Both have left since the junta took over, and the military government has employed private military contractors to address the insecurity.
Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and large parts of the north and east of the country remain beyond state authority.
