Mali Closes Schools and Universities as Islamist Militant Blockade Exacerbates Fuel Shortage
Mali has suspended schools and universities across the nation due to a acute fuel scarcity resulting from a blockade on energy resources enforced by militant groups.
The Education Minister declared on state television that all education institutions would stay shut until 9 November, clarifying that the transportation of staff and learners had been impacted by the blockade.
He asserted that the government officials were “making every effort” to resolve the crisis so that academic sessions could resume on November 10th.
For a number of weeks, Mali has been grappling with a energy deficit, particularly in the main city, after armed groups from an jihadist network initiated a restriction by striking tankers on primary roads.
Mali is landlocked, so all energy resources are transported by road from neighboring states such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.
Lengthy waits have been forming around gas pumps in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently fallen quiet.
The military government had earlier this month promised citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has endured.
Recently, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would evacuate the country amid the deteriorating energy crisis and escalating safety issues.
It noted that the fuel disruptions had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the overall security situation in unforeseen manners.
Mali is now led by a armed forces administration under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a coup in two years ago.
The military government had public backing when it took power, committing to tackle the ongoing instability prompted by a autonomy movement in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.
The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been deployed in a decade ago to deal with the growing rebellion.
Both have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the military government has employed foreign fighters to tackle the insecurity.
Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has continued and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain not under administrative command.