The West African nation Suspends Schools and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Restrictions Worsens Fuel Emergency
The landlocked West African country has suspended educational facilities and universities countrywide due to a critical fuel scarcity caused by a restriction on fuel imports imposed by jihadist fighters.
Minister of Education declared on public media that all academic facilities would be inactive until November 9th, explaining that the travel of employees and students had been disrupted by the restrictions.
He stated that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to end the emergency so that educational activities could restart on November 10th.
For several weeks, the nation has been grappling with a energy deficit, notably in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a blockade by striking fuel trucks on major highways.
The country is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are delivered by land routes from bordering countries such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.
Lengthy waits have been winding around gas pumps in the capital in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly become deserted.
The junta-led administration had in recent days promised citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has endured.
In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in the capital stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would leave Mali amid the intensifying energy crisis and growing security concerns.
It said that the energy interruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.
Mali is currently ruled by a military junta led by Gen Assimi GoĂŻta, who seized power in a military overthrow in 2021.
The junta had popular support when it came to authority, vowing to tackle the long-running security crisis prompted by a separatist rebellion in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.
The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been deployed in previously to address the growing rebellion.
Both have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the military government has hired foreign fighters to tackle the violence.
Nevertheless, the militant uprising has persisted and significant areas of the north and east of the state remain beyond state authority.
