🔗 Share this article The West African nation Shuts Down Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Blockade Exacerbates Fuel Emergency Lengthy queues have been snaking around petrol stations in the past few weeks Mali has suspended schools and higher learning institutions across the nation due to a critical petrol shortage triggered by a restriction on petroleum supplies implemented by jihadist fighters. Top education official announced on public media that all education institutions would remain closed until 9 November, explaining that the movement of personnel and pupils had been disrupted by the blockade. He emphasized that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to alleviate the crisis so that academic sessions could continue on November 10th. For weeks, the nation has been experiencing a petrol crisis, particularly in the main city, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a blockade by striking transport vehicles on major highways. The country is surrounded by land, so all energy resources are transported by road from bordering countries such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire. Extended lines have been snaking around gas pumps in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now reportedly fallen quiet. The ruling military council had earlier this month promised the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has continued. In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would evacuate the country amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and escalating safety issues. It explained that the fuel disruptions had impacted the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways. Mali is currently ruled by a army council headed by General Goïta, who seized power in a military overthrow in 2021. The junta had popular support when it assumed control, committing to deal with the ongoing instability triggered by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then co-opted by extremist groups. The international UN troops and European soldiers had been deployed in a decade ago to combat the growing rebellion. These forces have left since the junta took over, and the ruling council has hired Russian mercenaries to combat the violence. Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has continued and large parts of the north and east of the country remain beyond state authority.