Mali Suspends Schools and Universities as Islamist Militant Blockade Worsens Fuel Shortage

Mali has suspended educational facilities and universities countrywide due to a acute petrol shortage resulting from a blockade on fuel imports implemented by Islamist insurgents.

Top education official stated on state television that all learning centers would stay shut until the ninth of November, noting that the movement of staff and learners had been affected by the blockade.

He asserted that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to end the crisis so that academic sessions could continue on 10 November.

For a number of weeks, the nation has been grappling with a energy deficit, particularly in the main city, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a blockade by targeting fuel trucks on key routes.

The country is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are brought in by land routes from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Extended lines have been snaking around fuel outlets in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now allegedly fallen quiet.

The military government had in recent days promised residents that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has persisted.

In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in the capital stated that non-essential diplomatic staff and their relatives would leave the country amid the intensifying energy crisis and escalating protection worries.

It noted that the fuel disruptions had affected the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unexpected forms.

The West African nation is currently ruled by a armed forces administration headed by the military leader, who took control in a military overthrow in two years ago.

The junta had popular support when it assumed control, committing to address the long-running security crisis prompted by a separatist rebellion in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been deployed in 2013 to combat the increasing militant activity.

Both have left since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has employed private military contractors to address the insecurity.

Nonetheless, the militant uprising has endured and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain beyond state authority.