The West African nation Shuts Down Schools and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Restrictions Worsens Petrol Shortage

Mali has suspended schools and universities across the nation due to a critical petrol shortage caused by a blockade on fuel imports implemented by Islamist insurgents.

The Education Minister stated on state television that all learning centers would be inactive until 9 November, explaining that the transportation of employees and students had been disrupted by the restrictions.

He stated that the administration were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the crisis so that classes could resume on 10 November.

For weeks, Mali has been facing a petrol crisis, especially in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a embargo by attacking tankers on key routes.

Mali is landlocked, so all petroleum products are delivered by truck from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Extended lines have been snaking around gas pumps in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently fallen quiet.

The military government had previously assured the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has persisted.

In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in the capital stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would leave the country amid the deteriorating fuel shortage and escalating safety issues.

It said that the fuel disruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “capacity to affect” the overall security situation in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is presently governed by a army council headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a military overthrow in two years ago.

The military government had widespread approval when it came to authority, promising to deal with the protracted safety emergency prompted by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.

The international UN troops and France's military had been stationed in a decade ago to combat the growing rebellion.

Both have departed since the junta took over, and the military government has employed foreign fighters to tackle the insecurity.

Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has endured and significant areas of the north and east of the country remain beyond state authority.