The West African nation Suspends Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Blockade Worsens Petrol Shortage
Mali has suspended schools and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a severe fuel scarcity resulting from a blockade on petroleum supplies enforced by militant groups.
The Education Minister announced on national broadcast that all education institutions would remain closed until November 9th, explaining that the travel of staff and pupils had been impacted by the blockade.
He stated that the administration were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the situation so that classes could continue on November 10th.
For weeks, Mali has been facing a fuel shortage, notably in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a restriction by attacking tankers on primary roads.
The country is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are delivered by road from bordering countries such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.
Lengthy waits have been snaking around petrol stations in the capital in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly grown silent.
The junta-led administration had in recent days assured the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has persisted.
Recently, the American diplomatic mission in the capital stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would leave Mali amid the worsening petrol scarcity and increasing safety issues.
It said that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.
The West African nation is currently ruled by a military junta led by General Goïta, who took control in a military overthrow in 2021.
The military government had widespread approval when it came to authority, committing to deal with the long-running security crisis triggered by a independence uprising in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.
The international UN troops and European soldiers had been sent in previously to deal with the growing rebellion.
Both have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the military government has employed private military contractors to combat the violence.
However, the jihadist insurgency has endured and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain beyond state authority.