Mali Shuts Down Schools and Universities as Jihadist Blockade Intensifies Petrol Shortage
The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a critical petrol shortage resulting from a blockade on fuel imports implemented by militant groups.
The Education Minister declared on public media that all learning centers would be inactive until November 9th, noting that the movement of staff and learners had been disrupted by the restrictions.
He emphasized that the administration were “working tirelessly” to end the emergency so that academic sessions could continue on 10 November.
For a number of weeks, Mali has been grappling with a energy deficit, especially in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an jihadist network initiated a restriction by targeting fuel trucks on major highways.
Mali is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are brought in by road from adjacent nations such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.
Long queues have been forming around gas pumps in the main city in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly become deserted.
The ruling military council had in recent days reassured the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has endured.
Last week, the United States diplomatic office in the capital announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would leave the country amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and escalating safety issues.
It said that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unforeseen manners.
Mali is currently ruled by a armed forces administration under the leadership of the military leader, who seized power in a takeover in 2021.
The military government had widespread approval when it took power, vowing to address the protracted safety emergency triggered by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.
The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been stationed in a decade ago to deal with the increasing militant activity.
Both have departed since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has hired Russian mercenaries to tackle the violence.
However, the Islamist rebellion has continued and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain beyond state authority.
