The West African nation Closes Educational Institutions and Universities as Islamist Militant Restrictions Exacerbates Petrol Shortage
Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a critical petrol shortage resulting from a blockade on fuel imports enforced by Islamist insurgents.
Top education official announced on national broadcast that all academic facilities would remain closed until 9 November, noting that the movement of staff and students had been impacted by the imposed limitations.
He stated that the government officials were “working tirelessly” 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, notably in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda affiliate initiated a embargo by attacking transport vehicles on key routes.
Mali is landlocked, so all petroleum products are transported by road from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.
Extended lines have been winding around petrol stations in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly fallen quiet.
The junta-led administration had earlier this month assured residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has endured.
Recently, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would leave the country amid the worsening fuel shortage and increasing safety issues.
It noted that the fuel disruptions had affected the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.
Mali is currently ruled by a military junta headed by General Goïta, who took control in a military overthrow in two years ago.
The junta had widespread approval when it took power, committing to tackle the ongoing instability triggered by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by extremist groups.
The international UN troops and European soldiers had been sent in 2013 to address the escalating insurgency.
These forces have left since the military assumed power, and the military government has hired private military contractors to address the instability.
Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain outside government control.
