🔗 Share this article Mali Shuts Down Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Blockade Exacerbates Petrol Emergency Prolonged queues have been appearing around gas stations in the last few days The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted schools and universities countrywide due to a critical fuel scarcity triggered by a blockade on energy resources implemented by Islamist insurgents. Top education official declared on state television that all academic facilities would stay shut until the ninth of November, explaining that the travel of staff and students had been impacted by the restrictions. He asserted that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to end the situation so that educational activities could resume on 10 November. For weeks, Mali has been grappling with a fuel shortage, particularly in the capital Bamako, after militants from an jihadist network imposed a restriction by striking fuel trucks on primary roads. The country is without coastal access, so all petroleum products are delivered by road from bordering countries such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire. Extended lines have been winding around gas pumps in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly grown silent. The ruling military council had earlier this month promised citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the crisis has continued. In the past few days, the US Embassy in Bamako declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would depart Mali amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and growing safety issues. It said that the fuel disruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms. Mali is presently governed by a army council led by the military leader, who seized power in a military overthrow in two years ago. The ruling council had widespread approval when it came to authority, vowing to deal with the protracted safety emergency caused by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by Islamist militants. The United Nations stabilization force and France's military had been sent in a decade ago to deal with the increasing militant activity. These forces have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the military government has employed Russian mercenaries to combat the instability. Nevertheless, the militant uprising has continued and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain beyond state authority.