Mali Suspends Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Blockade Intensifies Petrol Shortage

Mali has closed schools and colleges across the nation due to a severe fuel scarcity caused by a embargo on fuel imports implemented by Islamist insurgents.

The Education Minister stated on state television that all learning centers would be inactive until the ninth of November, explaining that the movement of employees and learners had been disrupted by the imposed limitations.

He asserted that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the situation so that academic sessions could continue on the tenth of November.

For weeks, Mali has been grappling with a energy deficit, especially in the main city, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a blockade by targeting tankers on key routes.

The country is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are brought in by road from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.

Lengthy waits have been winding around fuel outlets in the capital in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The ruling military council had earlier this month reassured residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has endured.

Last week, the US Embassy in the capital announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would leave the country amid the worsening fuel shortage and escalating security concerns.

It said that the energy interruptions had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is presently governed by a army council headed by the military leader, who assumed authority in a takeover in 2021.

The junta had widespread approval when it took power, promising to deal with the long-running security crisis caused by a separatist rebellion in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by extremist groups.

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

The international troops have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the current administration has employed private military contractors to tackle the insecurity.

Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has continued and significant areas of the north and east of the state remain outside government control.