The West African nation Shuts Down Schools and Universities as Jihadist Blockade Intensifies Petrol Emergency
The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted schools and universities countrywide due to a severe petrol shortage triggered by a restriction on fuel imports imposed by militant groups.
Top education official announced on national broadcast that all learning centers would be inactive until the ninth of November, explaining that the movement of staff and learners had been impacted by the blockade.
He emphasized that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to resolve the emergency so that classes could resume on the tenth of November.
For weeks, Mali has been grappling with a energy deficit, particularly in the main city, after armed groups from an jihadist network imposed a embargo by attacking tankers on primary roads.
Mali is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are delivered by land routes from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.
Lengthy waits have been winding around fuel outlets in the main city in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly grown silent.
The ruling military council had in recent days assured residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has continued.
Recently, the United States diplomatic office in the capital declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families would leave Mali amid the deteriorating energy crisis and increasing security concerns.
It said that the fuel disruptions had impacted the power distribution and had the “ability to disturb” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.
The West African nation is presently governed by a military junta headed by the military leader, who seized power in a takeover in two years ago.
The junta had popular support when it came to authority, committing to tackle the protracted safety emergency caused by a separatist rebellion in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.
The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been sent in a decade ago to combat the growing rebellion.
Both have left since the new administration came in, and the military government has contracted Russian mercenaries to tackle the insecurity.
Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has continued and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain not under administrative command.
