🔗 Share this article Mali Shuts Down Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Blockade Worsens Fuel Emergency Prolonged queues have been forming around petrol stations in recent weeks The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and colleges across the nation due to a severe energy crisis resulting from a embargo on fuel imports implemented by jihadist fighters. The Education Minister declared on national broadcast that all learning centers would be inactive until the ninth of November, noting that the travel of personnel and pupils had been affected by the restrictions. He emphasized that the government officials were “making every effort” to alleviate the crisis so that classes could continue on the tenth of November. For weeks, Mali has been facing a fuel shortage, especially in the main city, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a blockade by attacking fuel trucks on primary roads. The country is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are delivered by land routes from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire. Extended lines have been forming around petrol stations in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently grown silent. The ruling military council had in recent days reassured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the situation has endured. In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako announced that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would evacuate Mali amid the intensifying energy crisis and increasing security concerns. It said that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners. The West African nation is currently ruled by a armed forces administration under the leadership of General Goïta, who took control in a takeover in recently. The military government had widespread approval when it took power, committing to deal with the ongoing instability caused by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by Islamist militants. The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been deployed in a decade ago to combat the escalating insurgency. The international troops have departed since the junta took over, and the military government has hired foreign fighters to combat the insecurity. However, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain not under administrative command.