The West African nation Suspends Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Blockade Intensifies Fuel Shortage
Mali has closed schools and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a acute fuel scarcity resulting from a blockade on petroleum supplies imposed by militant groups.
Top education official stated on state television that all education institutions would remain closed until 9 November, noting that the transportation of personnel and pupils had been disrupted by the blockade.
He emphasized that the administration were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the crisis so that academic sessions could resume on November 10th.
For weeks, the nation has been experiencing a fuel shortage, especially in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a blockade by attacking transport vehicles on primary roads.
Mali is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are brought in by land routes from bordering countries such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.
Long queues have been forming around gas pumps in the capital in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly grown silent.
The ruling military council had previously reassured citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the emergency has continued.
Recently, the US Embassy in Bamako declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would evacuate Mali amid the intensifying energy crisis and escalating protection worries.
It explained that the fuel disruptions had affected the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.
The West African nation is presently governed by a armed forces administration headed by General Goïta, who took control in a coup in 2021.
The military government had widespread approval when it took power, promising to deal with the long-running security crisis triggered by a independence uprising in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.
The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been sent in a decade ago to deal with the increasing militant activity.
These forces have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the ruling council has hired foreign fighters to tackle the instability.
Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has continued and significant areas of the north and east of the country remain not under administrative command.
