The West African nation Closes Schools and Universities as Islamist Militant Blockade Intensifies Fuel Shortage

The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and colleges countrywide due to a severe energy crisis resulting from a embargo on fuel imports implemented by jihadist fighters.

Minister of Education declared on national broadcast that all academic facilities would stay shut until 9 November, clarifying that the transportation of personnel and students had been disrupted by the restrictions.

He asserted that the government officials were “making every effort” to end the emergency so that classes could resume on 10 November.

For weeks, Mali has been facing a fuel shortage, especially in the administrative center, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda affiliate initiated a restriction by attacking fuel trucks on primary roads.

The country is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are transported by land routes from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Lengthy waits have been winding around gas pumps in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now allegedly become deserted.

The ruling military council had previously assured the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the situation has persisted.

Last week, the US Embassy in Bamako stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would depart the country amid the worsening petrol scarcity and increasing protection worries.

It said that the energy interruptions had disrupted the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.

Mali is currently ruled by a military junta headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a military overthrow in 2021.

The junta had widespread approval when it took power, promising to deal with the protracted safety emergency prompted by a separatist rebellion in the north by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and France's military had been sent in a decade ago to address the increasing militant activity.

The international troops have left since the junta took over, and the current administration has hired private military contractors to address the instability.

Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and significant areas of the northern and eastern territories of the country remain beyond state authority.