The West African nation Closes Schools and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Blockade Exacerbates Fuel Shortage

The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a severe petrol shortage resulting from a embargo on petroleum supplies implemented by jihadist fighters.

Top education official announced on national broadcast that all academic facilities would stay shut until November 9th, noting that the travel of personnel and students had been impacted by the restrictions.

He emphasized that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to resolve the crisis so that academic sessions could restart on the tenth of November.

For weeks, Mali has been facing a petrol crisis, particularly in the capital Bamako, after armed groups from an jihadist network imposed a restriction by targeting transport vehicles on key routes.

The country is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are brought in by truck from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and Ivory Coast.

Lengthy waits have been snaking around fuel outlets in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly fallen quiet.

The junta-led administration had earlier this month assured citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the crisis has persisted.

Recently, the American diplomatic mission in the capital declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would evacuate the country amid the intensifying fuel shortage and increasing safety issues.

It noted that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the power distribution and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is now led by a army council led by Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a coup in 2021.

The military government had public backing when it assumed control, vowing to address the ongoing instability prompted by a independence uprising in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by extremist groups.

The international UN troops and France's military had been stationed in previously to deal with the increasing militant activity.

The international troops have withdrawn since the new administration came in, and the military government has employed foreign fighters to combat the violence.

Nonetheless, the militant uprising has continued and significant areas of the north and east of the nation remain not under administrative command.