Mali Shuts Down Educational Institutions and Universities as Islamist Militant Restrictions Intensifies Petrol Shortage
The landlocked West African country has closed educational facilities and universities throughout the country due to a severe petrol shortage triggered by a blockade on petroleum supplies imposed by Islamist insurgents.
Top education official stated on state television that all academic facilities would stay shut until November 9th, explaining that the travel of personnel and students had been affected by the imposed limitations.
He emphasized that the administration were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the situation so that educational activities could resume on November 10th.
For weeks, Mali has been facing a energy deficit, particularly in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate initiated a embargo by striking transport vehicles on major highways.
Mali is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are delivered by land routes from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.
Lengthy waits have been winding around fuel outlets in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently fallen quiet.
The junta-led administration had earlier this month promised citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has endured.
Recently, the US Embassy in the capital declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would leave Mali amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and growing safety issues.
It noted that the energy interruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.
The West African nation is presently governed by a army council headed by the military leader, who seized power in a takeover in recently.
The junta had popular support when it assumed control, committing to tackle the ongoing instability caused by a independence uprising in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by extremist groups.
The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been deployed in 2013 to deal with the escalating insurgency.
The international troops have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the ruling council has hired private military contractors to combat the instability.
Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and significant areas of the north and east of the nation remain beyond state authority.
