The West African nation Closes Educational Institutions and Universities as Islamist Militant Blockade Worsens Petrol Crisis

Mali has temporarily halted schools and higher learning institutions throughout the country due to a critical petrol shortage caused by a restriction on petroleum supplies enforced by Islamist insurgents.

The Education Minister declared on national broadcast that all education institutions would be inactive until November 9th, noting that the movement of staff and pupils had been affected by the imposed limitations.

He stated that the authorities were “making every effort” to resolve the crisis so that classes could resume on 10 November.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been experiencing a petrol crisis, notably in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an jihadist network enforced a blockade by striking fuel trucks on primary roads.

The country is surrounded by land, so all petroleum products are transported by land routes from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Long queues have been winding around fuel outlets in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly fallen quiet.

The ruling military council had in recent days reassured residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the situation has persisted.

In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would evacuate the country amid the deteriorating fuel shortage and escalating security concerns.

It noted that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unforeseen manners.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a army council under the leadership of General Goïta, who seized power in a coup in two years ago.

The military government had widespread approval when it took power, committing to tackle the protracted safety emergency caused by a autonomy movement in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been deployed in a decade ago to address the escalating insurgency.

Both have departed since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has employed private military contractors to address the insecurity.

However, the jihadist insurgency has endured and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain beyond state authority.