Mali Shuts Down Schools and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Blockade Worsens Petrol Crisis

Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and universities across the nation due to a critical energy crisis resulting from a embargo on petroleum supplies implemented by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education stated on state television that all learning centers would stay shut until November 9th, explaining that the transportation of employees and learners had been disrupted by the blockade.

He stated that the administration were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the emergency so that educational activities could restart on the tenth of November.

For several weeks, Mali has been facing a fuel shortage, notably in the main city, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a blockade by striking tankers on primary roads.

The country is landlocked, so all petroleum products are delivered by land routes from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Long queues have been snaking around gas pumps in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The junta-led administration had in recent days reassured the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has continued.

Recently, the US Embassy in the capital declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would depart the country amid the deteriorating energy crisis and escalating safety issues.

It explained that the energy interruptions had impacted the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is presently governed by a military junta headed by General Goïta, who seized power in a coup in recently.

The junta had widespread approval when it took power, vowing to address the ongoing instability prompted by a independence uprising in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then co-opted by Islamist militants.

The international UN troops and French forces had been stationed in a decade ago to combat the growing rebellion.

The international troops have departed since the junta took over, and the current administration has employed private military contractors to address the instability.

Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has endured and large parts of the north and east of the nation remain beyond state authority.