Mali Shuts Down Educational Institutions and Universities as Islamist Militant Blockade Worsens Petrol Emergency

Mali has suspended schools and universities countrywide due to a acute energy crisis caused by a blockade on energy resources enforced by jihadist fighters.

Top education official declared on national broadcast that all academic facilities would stay shut until the ninth of November, noting that the travel of staff and students had been affected by the restrictions.

He emphasized that the authorities were “working tirelessly” to alleviate the emergency so that classes could resume on 10 November.

For weeks, the nation has been grappling with a petrol crisis, particularly in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a restriction by striking tankers on key routes.

The country is surrounded by land, so all fuel supplies are transported by road from adjacent nations such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Lengthy waits have been forming around fuel outlets in the main city in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly become deserted.

The junta-led administration had earlier this month reassured citizens that it was only a temporary issue, but the situation has persisted.

In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would depart the country amid the deteriorating energy crisis and increasing protection worries.

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

Mali is now led by a armed forces administration headed by General Goïta, who took control in a takeover in recently.

The ruling council had widespread approval when it assumed control, vowing to deal with the protracted safety emergency triggered by a autonomy movement in the northern region by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then taken over by extremist groups.

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

The international troops have departed since the junta took over, and the current administration has contracted Russian mercenaries to tackle the violence.

Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has persisted and extensive regions of the northern and eastern zones of the state remain not under administrative command.