Mali Suspends Schools and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Restrictions Worsens Petrol Crisis
Mali has closed educational facilities and colleges countrywide due to a acute petrol shortage caused by a embargo on energy resources imposed by Islamist insurgents.
Top education official stated on public media that all education institutions would remain closed until November 9th, noting that the transportation of employees and learners had been affected by the imposed limitations.
He stated that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the crisis so that educational activities could restart on 10 November.
For a number of weeks, Mali has been facing a fuel shortage, notably in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an jihadist network initiated a restriction by attacking tankers on key routes.
Mali is without coastal access, so all petroleum products are transported by truck from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.
Lengthy waits have been forming around fuel outlets in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly fallen quiet.
The military government had in recent days promised citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the situation has persisted.
Last week, the United States diplomatic office in the capital announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would depart the country amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and escalating security concerns.
It said that the fuel disruptions had affected the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.
Mali is currently ruled by a army council headed by the military leader, who took control in a coup in 2021.
The ruling council had widespread approval when it assumed control, promising to address the long-running security crisis caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.
The United Nations stabilization force and France's military had been sent in previously to address the escalating insurgency.
Both have departed since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has employed private military contractors to address the instability.
Nonetheless, the militant uprising has endured and significant areas of the north and east of the country remain not under administrative command.