Mali Suspends Educational Institutions and Universities as Jihadist Blockade Intensifies Petrol Emergency

The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a acute petrol shortage triggered by a restriction on fuel imports imposed by Islamist insurgents.

The Education Minister stated on state television that all learning centers would remain closed until November 9th, explaining that the travel of employees and students had been disrupted by the imposed limitations.

He emphasized that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the emergency so that educational activities could restart on 10 November.

For several weeks, Mali has been experiencing a fuel shortage, especially in the main city, after militants from an jihadist network imposed a restriction by striking transport vehicles on major highways.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are transported by road from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.

Extended lines have been winding around fuel outlets in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now apparently grown silent.

The ruling military council had earlier this month assured citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has endured.

Last week, the US Embassy in the capital stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would depart the country amid the worsening energy crisis and escalating security concerns.

It said that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

The West African nation is presently governed by a armed forces administration headed by General Goïta, who took control in a takeover in recently.

The junta had widespread approval when it took power, vowing to deal with the long-running security crisis prompted by a independence uprising in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been sent in a decade ago to deal with the increasing militant activity.

Both have withdrawn since the junta took over, and the military government has hired Russian mercenaries to tackle the insecurity.

Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has endured and large parts of the north and east of the nation remain not under administrative command.