The West African nation Suspends Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Restrictions Exacerbates Petrol Emergency
The landlocked West African country has closed schools and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a acute petrol shortage triggered by a blockade on fuel imports implemented by Islamist insurgents.
Top education official declared on national broadcast that all academic facilities would remain closed until 9 November, noting that the movement of staff and pupils had been impacted by the imposed limitations.
He asserted that the government officials were âdoing everything possibleâ to end the emergency so that classes could restart on 10 November.
For weeks, Mali has been facing a petrol crisis, particularly in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a blockade by attacking fuel trucks on key routes.
Mali is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are transported by land routes from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and CĂŽte d'Ivoire.
Long queues have been winding around petrol stations in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently become deserted.
The ruling military council had in recent days assured residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the situation has endured.
Last week, the United States diplomatic office in the capital declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would evacuate Mali amid the deteriorating fuel shortage and increasing protection worries.
It explained that the petroleum supply issues had affected the energy availability and had the âcapacity to affectâ the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.
Mali is currently ruled by a army council headed by Gen Assimi GoĂŻta, who assumed authority in a takeover in two years ago.
The ruling council had widespread approval when it took power, committing to tackle the protracted safety emergency triggered by a separatist rebellion in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.
The United Nations stabilization force and European soldiers had been sent in previously to address the escalating insurgency.
Both have departed since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has hired Russian mercenaries to tackle the insecurity.
Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has continued and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain not under administrative command.
