Mali Suspends Educational Institutions and Universities as Jihadist Blockade Exacerbates Fuel Shortage

Mali has suspended schools and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a acute petrol shortage caused by a embargo on energy resources implemented by militant groups.

The Education Minister stated on state television that all learning centers would remain closed until November 9th, clarifying that the transportation of personnel and learners had been impacted by the restrictions.

He emphasized that the authorities were “making every effort” to resolve the situation so that classes could continue on November 10th.

For several weeks, Mali has been experiencing a energy deficit, particularly in the main city, after insurgents from an jihadist network enforced a embargo by targeting transport vehicles on key routes.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are transported by land routes from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

Extended lines have been snaking around petrol stations in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly fallen quiet.

The ruling military council had in recent days assured the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the emergency has persisted.

In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would evacuate the country amid the intensifying fuel shortage and escalating safety issues.

It said that the fuel disruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.

Mali is currently ruled by a military junta headed by the military leader, who seized power in a military overthrow in two years ago.

The junta had public backing when it took power, committing to address the protracted safety emergency prompted by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.

The international UN troops and France's military had been deployed in previously to combat the escalating insurgency.

These forces have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the military government has hired Russian mercenaries to combat the instability.

However, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain outside government control.