Mali Suspends Schools and Universities as Islamist Militant Restrictions Exacerbates Petrol Emergency

Mali has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a acute fuel scarcity triggered by a restriction on fuel imports enforced by Islamist insurgents.

Top education official stated on state television that all academic facilities would stay shut until the ninth of November, noting that the travel of staff and learners had been impacted by the blockade.

He stated that the authorities were “making every effort” to alleviate the emergency so that educational activities could resume on November 10th.

For several weeks, the nation has been facing a energy deficit, particularly in the main city, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a blockade by striking transport vehicles on major highways.

The country is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are transported by land routes from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Extended lines have been winding around petrol stations in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently grown silent.

The junta-led administration had in recent days assured the public that it was only a passing concern, but the crisis has continued.

In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families would evacuate Mali amid the intensifying energy crisis and escalating safety issues.

It said that the fuel disruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.

Mali is now led by a armed forces administration under the leadership of Gen Assimi Goïta, who assumed authority in a military overthrow in two years ago.

The junta had public backing when it came to authority, committing to deal with the ongoing instability triggered by a autonomy movement in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been sent in 2013 to combat the escalating insurgency.

The international troops have departed since the junta took over, and the military government has contracted Russian mercenaries to combat the violence.

Nevertheless, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the country remain outside government control.