🔗 Share this article Mali Closes Schools and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Restrictions Worsens Petrol Shortage Prolonged queues have been forming around gas stations in the last few days The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a critical energy crisis triggered by a embargo on petroleum supplies enforced by jihadist fighters. Top education official stated on national broadcast that all education institutions would be inactive until November 9th, noting that the travel of staff and learners had been disrupted by the imposed limitations. He emphasized that the authorities were “making every effort” to end the emergency so that classes could resume on 10 November. For several weeks, the nation has been grappling with a petrol crisis, especially in the administrative center, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a blockade by striking tankers on primary roads. Mali is landlocked, so all energy resources are transported by truck from neighboring states such as Senegal and the neighboring nation. Long queues have been snaking around fuel outlets in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now reportedly become deserted. The ruling military council had in recent days promised the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has persisted. Recently, the United States diplomatic office in the capital declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would evacuate Mali amid the intensifying fuel shortage and growing safety issues. It explained that the petroleum supply issues had affected the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways. The West African nation is presently governed by a army council headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who took control in a coup in 2021. The ruling council had popular support when it took power, promising to deal with the long-running security crisis prompted by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by extremist groups. The international UN troops and French forces had been stationed in previously to address the escalating insurgency. The international troops have left since the junta took over, and the current administration has hired Russian mercenaries to tackle the violence. Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has endured and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain not under administrative command.