Mali Shuts Down Schools and Universities as Jihadist Restrictions Intensifies Petrol Emergency
The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted schools and universities across the nation due to a severe fuel scarcity resulting from a blockade on energy resources imposed by Islamist insurgents.
Top education official declared on public media that all academic facilities would stay shut until the ninth of November, noting that the travel of personnel and students had been impacted by the blockade.
He asserted that the administration were “doing everything possible” to end the situation so that classes could resume on November 10th.
For several weeks, the nation has been experiencing a fuel shortage, especially in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an jihadist network imposed a embargo by targeting fuel trucks on key routes.
The country is without coastal access, so all petroleum products are transported by land routes from neighboring states such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.
Long queues have been winding around gas pumps in the capital in recent weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now allegedly grown silent.
The military government had previously reassured residents that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has continued.
Last week, the American diplomatic mission in the capital stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would depart Mali amid the intensifying fuel shortage and increasing protection worries.
It explained that the fuel disruptions had affected the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.
Mali is presently governed by a army council under the leadership of the military leader, who took control in a takeover in 2021.
The military government had public backing when it took power, committing to tackle the protracted safety emergency triggered by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.
The international UN troops and French forces had been stationed in 2013 to address the escalating insurgency.
These forces have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has contracted private military contractors to address the instability.
Nevertheless, the militant uprising has endured and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain not under administrative command.
