Mali Shuts Down Educational Institutions and Universities as Jihadist Restrictions Exacerbates Fuel Shortage
The landlocked West African country has closed schools and universities throughout the country due to a acute petrol shortage resulting from a blockade on fuel imports implemented by jihadist fighters.
The Education Minister stated on national broadcast that all academic facilities would remain closed until the ninth of November, explaining that the transportation of employees and learners had been affected by the blockade.
He stated that the administration were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the crisis so that academic sessions could resume on 10 November.
For weeks, the nation has been grappling with a petrol crisis, notably in the capital Bamako, after militants from an jihadist network imposed a blockade by targeting fuel trucks on primary roads.
The country is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are delivered by truck from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.
Long queues have been forming around fuel outlets in the capital in recent weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently fallen quiet.
The ruling military council had in recent days reassured residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has continued.
In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families would depart the country amid the worsening petrol scarcity and escalating safety issues.
It said that the fuel disruptions had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.
Mali is currently ruled by a military junta under the leadership of General Goïta, who seized power in a coup in two years ago.
The ruling council had public backing when it came to authority, vowing to address the ongoing instability prompted by a independence uprising in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.
The UN peacekeeping mission and France's military had been stationed in previously to combat the escalating insurgency.
These forces have departed since the junta took over, and the military government has employed Russian mercenaries to combat the violence.
Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain beyond state authority.
