Mali Shuts Down Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Blockade Worsens Fuel Shortage
The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted schools and colleges countrywide due to a critical petrol shortage resulting from a embargo on energy resources implemented by Islamist insurgents.
The Education Minister announced on public media that all education institutions would remain closed until November 9th, clarifying that the transportation of personnel and pupils had been affected by the imposed limitations.
He emphasized that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to end the crisis so that educational activities could restart on 10 November.
For a number of weeks, Mali has been facing a energy deficit, notably in the capital Bamako, after militants from an jihadist network enforced a embargo by targeting transport vehicles on key routes.
Mali is without coastal access, so all energy resources are delivered by truck from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.
Lengthy waits have been winding around petrol stations in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly fallen quiet.
The junta-led administration had previously assured residents that it was only a passing concern, but the crisis has persisted.
Last week, the American diplomatic mission in the capital stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would leave the country amid the intensifying fuel shortage and escalating protection worries.
It said that the energy interruptions had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.
Mali is currently ruled by a military junta led by General Goïta, who assumed authority in a coup in 2021.
The junta had popular support when it assumed control, vowing to deal with the ongoing instability triggered by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.
The international UN troops and France's military had been deployed in previously to deal with the growing rebellion.
The international troops have departed since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has contracted Russian mercenaries to address the violence.
Nevertheless, the militant uprising has continued and significant areas of the north and east of the nation remain beyond state authority.