Mali Suspends Educational Institutions and Universities as Jihadist Blockade Intensifies Petrol Shortage
The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a severe energy crisis resulting from a blockade on energy resources imposed by militant groups.
Top education official stated on public media that all academic facilities would be inactive until 9 November, clarifying that the movement of employees and learners had been disrupted by the blockade.
He emphasized that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to end the emergency so that educational activities could resume on 10 November.
For several weeks, the nation has been facing a fuel shortage, especially in the administrative center, after armed groups from an jihadist network imposed a blockade by attacking transport vehicles on primary roads.
Mali is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are delivered by land routes from neighboring states such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.
Extended lines have been winding around fuel outlets in the capital in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly fallen quiet.
The military government had previously promised citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has continued.
Last week, the US Embassy in Bamako announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would evacuate Mali amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and escalating security concerns.
It said that the fuel disruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.
The West African nation is presently governed by a armed forces administration led by General Goïta, who took control in a takeover in 2021.
The military government had public backing when it assumed control, vowing to tackle the long-running security crisis prompted by a autonomy movement in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.
The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been sent in previously to address the escalating insurgency.
These forces have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the military government has hired private military contractors to address the insecurity.
Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has endured and significant areas of the north and east of the state remain outside government control.
