The West African nation Shuts Down Schools and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Blockade Worsens Petrol Crisis

The landlocked West African country has suspended educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a critical petrol shortage resulting from a embargo on fuel imports implemented by jihadist fighters.

Minister of Education declared on state television that all learning centers would remain closed until 9 November, noting that the transportation of staff and pupils had been impacted by the blockade.

He emphasized that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to resolve the emergency so that educational activities could restart on the tenth of November.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been facing a fuel shortage, notably in the administrative center, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a embargo by targeting fuel trucks on key routes.

Mali is without coastal access, so all energy resources are transported by road from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.

Extended lines have been forming around petrol stations in the capital in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly become deserted.

The junta-led administration had previously reassured residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the situation has endured.

Recently, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would evacuate the country amid the intensifying energy crisis and escalating security concerns.

It explained that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.

Mali is now led by a army council under the leadership of the military leader, who seized power in a takeover in 2021.

The junta had popular support when it assumed control, committing to tackle the ongoing instability caused by a separatist rebellion in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.

The international UN troops and European soldiers had been stationed in a decade ago to combat the increasing militant activity.

Both have left since the new administration came in, and the military government has employed private military contractors to combat the insecurity.

However, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain outside government control.