Mali Shuts Down Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Blockade Worsens Petrol Shortage
Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and colleges across the nation due to a severe petrol shortage caused by a blockade on fuel imports implemented by militant groups.
Top education official declared on national broadcast that all learning centers would be inactive until 9 November, explaining that the movement of employees and learners had been disrupted by the restrictions.
He emphasized that the authorities were “making every effort” to resolve the emergency so that academic sessions could resume on the tenth of November.
For weeks, Mali has been facing a petrol crisis, particularly in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a embargo by striking fuel trucks on major highways.
Mali is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are brought in by road from bordering countries such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.
Lengthy waits have been forming around fuel outlets in the main city in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly become deserted.
The military government had previously assured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the situation has endured.
Recently, the American diplomatic mission in the capital announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would leave the country amid the worsening energy crisis and escalating safety issues.
It explained that the fuel disruptions had affected the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.
The West African nation is presently governed by a army council headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in 2021.
The junta had popular support when it assumed control, committing to tackle the long-running security crisis triggered by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by extremist groups.
The international UN troops and French forces had been sent in 2013 to deal with the growing rebellion.
Both have departed since the junta took over, and the military government has employed private military contractors to combat the instability.
Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has endured and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain not under administrative command.
