Mali Closes Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Restrictions Intensifies Fuel Shortage

The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a severe energy crisis resulting from a restriction on fuel imports imposed by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education stated on state television that all education institutions would remain closed until November 9th, noting that the movement of staff and students had been impacted by the blockade.

He asserted that the administration were “making every effort” to resolve the crisis so that educational activities could resume on the tenth of November.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been experiencing a petrol crisis, especially in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a restriction by striking tankers on key routes.

Mali is without coastal access, so all petroleum products are transported by land routes from neighboring states such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Long queues have been forming around petrol stations in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly fallen quiet.

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

Recently, the United States diplomatic office in the capital stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would leave Mali amid the worsening petrol scarcity and escalating security concerns.

It noted that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unforeseen manners.

Mali is currently ruled by a army council led by the military leader, who assumed authority in a military overthrow in recently.

The ruling council had widespread approval when it came to authority, promising to tackle the protracted safety emergency triggered by a autonomy movement in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by extremist groups.

The international UN troops and French forces had been stationed in previously to address the growing rebellion.

The international troops have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the current administration has contracted private military contractors to address the instability.

Nevertheless, the militant uprising has endured and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain not under administrative command.