The West African nation Suspends Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Blockade Exacerbates Petrol Emergency
Mali has suspended educational facilities and universities throughout the country due to a critical petrol shortage triggered by a embargo on petroleum supplies imposed by jihadist fighters.
The Education Minister announced on state television that all academic facilities would stay shut until the ninth of November, noting that the movement of staff and pupils had been impacted by the restrictions.
He emphasized that the government officials were “making every effort” to end the emergency so that academic sessions could resume on the tenth of November.
For several weeks, Mali has been experiencing a petrol crisis, particularly in the administrative center, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a restriction by striking tankers on primary roads.
Mali is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are brought in by truck from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.
Lengthy waits have been forming around fuel outlets in the main city in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently fallen quiet.
The military government had in recent days promised citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has endured.
In the past few days, the US Embassy in the capital stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would leave Mali amid the intensifying energy crisis and increasing security concerns.
It said that the fuel disruptions had affected the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.
Mali is currently ruled by a army council headed by General Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in 2021.
The military government had widespread approval when it took power, promising to address the ongoing instability caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.
The international UN troops and France's military had been stationed in a decade ago to address the increasing militant activity.
The international troops have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the military government has employed Russian mercenaries to address the instability.
Nonetheless, the militant uprising has endured and significant areas of the north and east of the country remain outside government control.
