Mali Suspends Schools and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Blockade Exacerbates Petrol Crisis
The landlocked West African country has closed schools and universities countrywide due to a acute petrol shortage triggered by a restriction on petroleum supplies imposed by militant groups.
Top education official declared on public media that all learning centers would be inactive until 9 November, explaining that the movement of staff and students had been impacted by the imposed limitations.
He stated that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the situation so that classes could restart on the tenth of November.
For several weeks, the nation has been grappling with a petrol crisis, particularly in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an jihadist network enforced a blockade by targeting tankers on major highways.
Mali is landlocked, so all petroleum products are brought in by land routes from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.
Lengthy waits have been winding around fuel outlets in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly fallen quiet.
The ruling military council had in recent days assured the public that it was only a passing concern, but the situation has endured.
Last week, the US Embassy in the capital announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would leave the country amid the worsening petrol scarcity and escalating security concerns.
It said that the energy interruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.
Mali is presently governed by a armed forces administration headed by General Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in 2021.
The ruling council had popular support when it came to authority, promising to address the ongoing instability caused by a autonomy movement in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.
The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been stationed in previously to address the increasing militant activity.
These forces have left since the military assumed power, and the military government has contracted foreign fighters to tackle the violence.
Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has continued and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain not under administrative command.
