The West African nation Suspends Educational Institutions and Universities as Islamist Militant Restrictions Exacerbates Fuel Emergency

The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a acute petrol shortage resulting from a restriction on petroleum supplies imposed by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education stated on public media that all learning centers would be inactive until November 9th, noting that the transportation of personnel and learners had been disrupted by the restrictions.

He asserted that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to end the emergency so that classes could resume on 10 November.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been grappling with a fuel shortage, especially in the main city, after insurgents from an jihadist network imposed a blockade by striking transport vehicles on primary roads.

Mali is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are transported by truck from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.

Lengthy waits have been snaking around gas pumps in the main city in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly become deserted.

The junta-led administration had previously assured the public that it was only a passing concern, but the crisis has persisted.

Recently, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would depart the country amid the intensifying energy crisis and escalating safety issues.

It said that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.

Mali is currently ruled by a army council headed by General Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in 2021.

The junta had popular support when it assumed control, vowing to tackle the protracted safety emergency prompted by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.

The international UN troops and French forces had been stationed in 2013 to address the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have departed since the junta took over, and the ruling council has employed private military contractors to tackle the instability.

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