The West African nation Suspends Educational Institutions and Universities as Jihadist Restrictions Intensifies Petrol Shortage
The landlocked West African country has closed educational facilities and colleges countrywide due to a critical energy crisis caused by a restriction on fuel imports enforced by jihadist fighters.
Top education official stated on state television that all academic facilities would stay shut until 9 November, explaining that the movement of employees and pupils had been disrupted by the blockade.
He stated that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the crisis so that academic sessions could resume on the tenth of November.
For a number of weeks, Mali has been facing a energy deficit, notably in the main city, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a blockade by targeting fuel trucks on major highways.
Mali is without coastal access, so all energy resources are delivered by truck from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.
Extended lines have been snaking around gas pumps in the capital in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly fallen quiet.
The ruling military council had previously reassured the public that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has persisted.
In the past few days, the US Embassy in Bamako announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would depart Mali amid the worsening energy crisis and escalating security concerns.
It noted that the energy interruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.
Mali is currently ruled by a army council headed by General Goïta, who seized power in a coup in two years ago.
The military government had popular support when it came to authority, vowing to deal with the long-running security crisis caused by a independence uprising in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.
The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been deployed in a decade ago to combat the increasing militant activity.
These forces have departed since the new administration came in, and the military government has hired foreign fighters to combat the violence.
However, the militant uprising has continued and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain beyond state authority.
