The West African nation Closes Schools and Universities as Jihadist Blockade Intensifies Petrol Crisis

Long queues at petrol stations in Mali
Lengthy queues have been forming around gas stations in the past few weeks

Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a acute petrol shortage triggered by a blockade on energy resources imposed by militant groups.

Minister of Education declared on national broadcast that all education institutions would stay shut until November 9th, explaining that the movement of personnel and students had been impacted by the blockade.

He asserted that the administration were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the situation so that educational activities could resume on November 10th.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been experiencing a petrol crisis, notably in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a embargo by targeting tankers on primary roads.

The country is landlocked, so all energy resources are delivered by land routes from neighboring states such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Lengthy waits have been snaking around gas pumps in the main city in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now apparently fallen quiet.

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 US Embassy in the capital declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would depart Mali amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and growing safety issues.

It said that the fuel disruptions had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.

Mali is presently governed by a army council led by the military leader, who took control in a coup in two years ago.

The military government had widespread approval when it assumed control, committing to address the long-running security crisis triggered by a autonomy movement in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been sent in 2013 to address the increasing militant activity.

Both have departed since the military assumed power, and the military government has employed foreign fighters to address the insecurity.

Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has endured and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain not under administrative command.

Sydney Trujillo
Sydney Trujillo

A renewable energy expert with over a decade of experience in solar and wind power systems, passionate about eco-friendly innovations.