Bamako: The landlocked West African nation of Mali is being squeezed by a blockade on fuel imports imposed by jihadi militants.
Education Minister Amadou Sy Savane announced on late Sunday that schools nationwide
will be shut for two weeks because the scarcity of fuel makes it difficult for staff to get to work, as is the case with most other workers.
For a country that relies on fuel imports from neighbouring Senegal and the Ivory Coast, the blockade has been a major setback for Mali’s military junta.
Militants imposed the blockade to fight back against the military
Mali, a country of 25 million people, has battled jihadi militants for several decades, alongside neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.
Militants from the al-Qaida-backed Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin group announced a ban on fuel imports from neighbouring countries into Mali in early September, after authorities said early
this year they were cutting down fuel supplies to remote areas as a measure to squeeze the jihadis
in their hideouts.