The West African nation Suspends Educational Institutions and Universities as Islamist Militant Restrictions Worsens Fuel Crisis
Mali has closed educational facilities and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a acute petrol shortage caused by a blockade on fuel imports imposed by Islamist insurgents.
The Education Minister announced on national broadcast that all learning centers would be inactive until November 9th, noting that the movement of staff and learners had been impacted by the restrictions.
He emphasized that the administration were “making every effort” to alleviate the crisis so that educational activities could restart on November 10th.
For a number of weeks, Mali has been experiencing a petrol crisis, especially in the main city, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a embargo by attacking transport vehicles on primary roads.
The country is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are transported by road from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.
Lengthy waits have been forming around petrol stations in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently fallen quiet.
The military government had previously promised citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has persisted.
Last week, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families would depart the country amid the worsening petrol scarcity and increasing protection worries.
It explained that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unexpected forms.
Mali is currently ruled by a armed forces administration headed by the military leader, who assumed authority in a takeover in two years ago.
The junta had public backing when it assumed control, committing to address the protracted safety emergency caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then co-opted by Islamist militants.
The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been stationed in 2013 to address the growing rebellion.
These forces have left since the military assumed power, and the current administration has contracted Russian mercenaries to tackle the instability.
However, the militant uprising has endured and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain beyond state authority.
