The West African nation Suspends Schools and Universities as Islamist Militant Restrictions Intensifies Fuel Shortage
The landlocked West African country has closed schools and colleges throughout the country due to a severe energy crisis triggered by a restriction on energy resources enforced by militant groups.
Minister of Education declared on national broadcast that all academic facilities would stay shut until November 9th, explaining that the movement of employees and students had been affected by the blockade.
He stated that the administration were “doing everything possible” to end the situation so that educational activities could continue on November 10th.
For a number of weeks, the nation has been grappling with a energy deficit, particularly in the administrative center, after insurgents from an jihadist network enforced a embargo by striking tankers on major highways.
The country is landlocked, so all petroleum products are brought in by road from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.
Long queues have been snaking around fuel outlets in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly fallen quiet.
The military government had previously assured citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has endured.
In the past few days, the US Embassy in Bamako announced that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would leave the country amid the worsening fuel shortage and escalating safety issues.
It explained that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.
Mali is currently ruled by a armed forces administration led by General Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in recently.
The junta had public backing when it took power, vowing to deal with the ongoing instability prompted by a independence uprising in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.
The international UN troops and France's military had been sent in a decade ago to address the increasing militant activity.
Both have left since the new administration came in, and the military government has employed private military contractors to combat the insecurity.
However, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and significant areas of the north and east of the country remain outside government control.
