The West African nation Shuts Down Educational Institutions and Universities as Islamist Militant Blockade Intensifies Petrol Emergency

The landlocked West African country has closed educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a severe petrol shortage resulting from a blockade on fuel imports enforced by jihadist fighters.

Minister of Education stated on state television that all education institutions would remain closed until 9 November, clarifying that the transportation of staff and pupils had been affected by the restrictions.

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

For a number of weeks, the nation has been grappling with a petrol crisis, especially in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate initiated a blockade by striking fuel trucks on primary roads.

Mali is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are brought in by land routes from neighboring states such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Lengthy waits have been winding around petrol stations in the capital in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly fallen quiet.

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

Recently, the US Embassy in Bamako stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would depart Mali amid the intensifying fuel shortage and escalating security concerns.

It explained that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unforeseen manners.

The West African nation is now led by a armed forces administration led by General Goïta, who seized power in a military overthrow in 2021.

The military government had public backing when it took power, vowing to address the long-running security crisis prompted by a autonomy movement in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants.

The United Nations stabilization force and France's military had been deployed in previously to deal with the increasing militant activity.

Both have left since the junta took over, and the current administration has hired private military contractors to address the insecurity.

Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and extensive regions of the north and east of the country remain not under administrative command.