Mali Shuts Down Educational Institutions and Universities as Islamist Militant Blockade Intensifies Fuel Emergency
Mali has temporarily halted schools and colleges countrywide due to a acute energy crisis triggered by a embargo on fuel imports enforced by militant groups.
Minister of Education announced on public media that all academic facilities would be inactive until November 9th, clarifying that the travel of personnel and students had been disrupted by the imposed limitations.
He asserted that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the crisis so that classes could resume on November 10th.
For a number of weeks, Mali has been facing a energy deficit, notably in the administrative center, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a restriction by attacking fuel trucks on key routes.
Mali is without coastal access, so all energy resources are brought in by land routes from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.
Long queues have been winding around fuel outlets in the main city in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly grown silent.
The junta-led administration had previously assured citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has persisted.
In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in the capital declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families would depart the country amid the deteriorating fuel shortage and escalating safety issues.
It said that the energy interruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.
Mali is currently ruled by a military junta led by the military leader, who took control in a takeover in recently.
The ruling council had popular support when it came to authority, promising to tackle the ongoing instability prompted by a separatist rebellion in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.
The international UN troops and French forces had been stationed in 2013 to combat the escalating insurgency.
Both have left since the new administration came in, and the current administration has hired private military contractors to combat the insecurity.
Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has endured and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain outside government control.