The West African nation Closes Schools and Universities as Jihadist Restrictions Intensifies Fuel Crisis
Mali has closed schools and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a acute fuel scarcity caused by a embargo on energy resources enforced by militant groups.
Top education official declared on national broadcast that all academic facilities would be inactive until the ninth of November, clarifying that the transportation of employees and learners had been affected by the restrictions.
He emphasized that the administration were âmaking every effortâ to end the crisis so that academic sessions could resume on the tenth of November.
For weeks, the nation has been facing a fuel shortage, particularly in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an jihadist network enforced a restriction by striking transport vehicles on primary roads.
The country is landlocked, so all energy resources are transported by land routes from neighboring states such as Senegal and CĂŽte d'Ivoire.
Long queues have been forming around gas pumps in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently become deserted.
The junta-led administration had in recent days promised citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the emergency has continued.
Recently, the United States diplomatic office in the capital stated that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would leave the country amid the worsening fuel shortage and increasing security concerns.
It said that the energy interruptions had disrupted the energy availability and had the âcapacity to affectâ the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.
The West African nation is currently ruled by a army council headed by the military leader, who assumed authority in a military overthrow in recently.
The junta had public backing when it took power, promising to address the protracted safety emergency triggered by a separatist rebellion in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by extremist groups.
The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been deployed in a decade ago to deal with the growing rebellion.
Both have left since the military assumed power, and the military government has contracted foreign fighters to address the instability.
However, the Islamist rebellion has continued and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain beyond state authority.