Mali Closes Schools and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Blockade Exacerbates Fuel Emergency
The landlocked West African country has closed schools and colleges countrywide due to a critical energy crisis resulting from a embargo on fuel imports enforced by jihadist fighters.
Top education official stated on state television that all academic facilities would remain closed until the ninth of November, clarifying that the movement of staff and learners had been affected by the restrictions.
He asserted that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to end the emergency so that classes could restart on 10 November.
For a number of weeks, Mali has been grappling with a energy deficit, notably in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a blockade by targeting transport vehicles on major highways.
The country is landlocked, so all petroleum products are transported by road from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.
Extended lines have been snaking around fuel outlets in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly become deserted.
The ruling military council had previously reassured residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has continued.
Recently, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would evacuate Mali amid the worsening energy crisis and increasing security concerns.
It explained that the energy interruptions had disrupted the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.
The West African nation is currently ruled by a armed forces administration under the leadership of the military leader, who took control in a coup in two years ago.
The ruling council had public backing when it took power, vowing to deal with the long-running security crisis caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.
The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been stationed in 2013 to address the escalating insurgency.
Both have departed since the military assumed power, and the military government has hired foreign fighters to combat the violence.
Nevertheless, the militant uprising has persisted and extensive regions of the north and east of the country remain outside government control.