The West African nation Closes Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Blockade Intensifies Petrol Shortage

The landlocked West African country has closed schools and universities countrywide due to a acute petrol shortage caused by a restriction on fuel imports enforced by Islamist insurgents.

The Education Minister announced on state television that all education institutions would stay shut until November 9th, noting that the travel of personnel and students had been disrupted by the restrictions.

He asserted that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to end the situation so that academic sessions could restart on 10 November.

For several weeks, Mali has been experiencing a energy deficit, particularly in the administrative center, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a embargo by striking fuel trucks on key routes.

The country is without coastal access, so all energy resources are delivered by road from adjacent nations such as Senegal and the neighboring nation.

Long queues have been forming around fuel outlets in the capital in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly grown silent.

The ruling military council had previously assured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has endured.

Recently, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would evacuate the country amid the deteriorating petrol scarcity and escalating safety issues.

It noted that the fuel disruptions had affected the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

Mali is currently ruled by a military junta headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a military overthrow in two years ago.

The junta had popular support when it took power, vowing to deal with the protracted safety emergency caused by a independence uprising in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and European soldiers had been sent in 2013 to combat the increasing militant activity.

These forces have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the current administration has contracted Russian mercenaries to address the violence.

Nonetheless, the militant uprising has persisted and extensive regions of the north and east of the state remain not under administrative command.