The West African nation Closes Educational Institutions and Universities as Islamist Militant Blockade Intensifies Petrol Shortage
Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and universities across the nation due to a severe petrol shortage resulting from a embargo on energy resources imposed by militant groups.
Minister of Education declared on national broadcast that all education institutions would be inactive until November 9th, noting that the travel of personnel and pupils had been affected by the imposed limitations.
He stated that the administration were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the emergency so that educational activities could restart on the tenth of November.
For a number of weeks, the nation has been experiencing a fuel shortage, notably in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a blockade by targeting transport vehicles on major highways.
The country is landlocked, so all petroleum products are delivered by truck from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.
Extended lines have been snaking around fuel outlets in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly fallen quiet.
The military government had earlier this month reassured the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has endured.
In the past few days, the US Embassy in the capital declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would evacuate Mali amid the worsening petrol scarcity and growing security concerns.
It noted that the fuel disruptions had affected the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.
Mali is now led by a army council led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a takeover in two years ago.
The military government had public backing when it came to authority, committing to deal with the protracted safety emergency caused by a separatist rebellion in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.
The international UN troops and European soldiers had been deployed in 2013 to address the escalating insurgency.
Both have departed since the new administration came in, and the current administration has hired private military contractors to address the violence.
However, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and extensive regions of the north and east of the country remain outside government control.