The West African nation Suspends Educational Institutions and Universities as Islamist Militant Blockade Intensifies Fuel Crisis
The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and colleges countrywide due to a acute energy crisis caused by a blockade on energy resources enforced by militant groups.
Top education official declared on state television that all learning centers would be inactive until November 9th, explaining that the travel of staff and pupils had been impacted by the blockade.
He stated that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the situation so that academic sessions could restart on 10 November.
For weeks, Mali has been grappling with a energy deficit, especially in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a restriction by striking tankers on primary roads.
Mali is without coastal access, so all petroleum products are brought in by road from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.
Extended lines have been winding around gas pumps in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now apparently grown silent.
The ruling military council had previously promised citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has continued.
In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in the capital announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would depart the country amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and growing safety issues.
It explained that the energy interruptions had affected the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.
Mali is now led by a armed forces administration headed by Gen Assimi GoĂŻta, who took control in a takeover in two years ago.
The ruling council had popular support when it came to authority, promising to tackle the ongoing instability triggered by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by extremist groups.
The UN peacekeeping mission and France's military had been sent in 2013 to combat the increasing militant activity.
These forces have left since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has employed private military contractors to combat the instability.
However, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain outside government control.
