Mali Shuts Down Schools and Universities as Jihadist Restrictions Intensifies Fuel Shortage
The landlocked West African country has closed schools and universities across the nation due to a critical petrol shortage resulting from a blockade on petroleum supplies enforced by jihadist fighters.
Minister of Education declared on public media that all learning centers would remain closed until the ninth of November, explaining that the travel of personnel and students had been impacted by the blockade.
He emphasized that the administration were “making every effort” to alleviate the situation so that educational activities could resume on the tenth of November.
For a number of weeks, Mali has been facing a fuel shortage, especially in the main city, after militants from an jihadist network enforced a embargo by attacking transport vehicles on primary roads.
The country is landlocked, so all energy resources are brought in by land routes from bordering countries such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.
Long queues have been snaking around gas pumps in the main city in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly grown silent.
The ruling military council had in recent days promised residents that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has endured.
In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would depart the country amid the worsening fuel shortage and growing security concerns.
It said that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.
The West African nation is now led by a army council under the leadership of the military leader, who took control in a military overthrow in recently.
The military government had widespread approval when it assumed control, promising to deal with the protracted safety emergency triggered by a autonomy movement in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.
The UN peacekeeping mission and France's military had been stationed in 2013 to deal with the growing rebellion.
Both have left since the new administration came in, and the military government has employed Russian mercenaries to tackle the instability.
Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain beyond state authority.
