Mali Suspends Educational Institutions and Universities as Jihadist Blockade Intensifies Fuel Shortage

The landlocked West African country has suspended educational facilities and colleges throughout the country due to a severe petrol shortage triggered by a embargo on energy resources enforced by jihadist fighters.

Top education official announced on state television that all learning centers would be inactive until November 9th, explaining that the movement of personnel and learners had been impacted by the blockade.

He emphasized that the administration were “making every effort” to end the crisis so that academic sessions could resume on the tenth of November.

For weeks, the nation has been grappling with a petrol crisis, especially in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an jihadist network imposed a restriction by attacking transport vehicles on primary roads.

The country is landlocked, so all petroleum products are brought in by land routes from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Lengthy waits have been winding around fuel outlets in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now allegedly become deserted.

The military government had earlier this month promised residents that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has persisted.

Last week, the US Embassy in Bamako declared that non-essential diplomatic staff and their families would leave the country amid the worsening fuel shortage and increasing safety issues.

It said that the fuel disruptions had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “potential to disrupt” the overall security situation in unforeseen manners.

Mali is currently ruled by a military junta under the leadership of the military leader, who seized power in a coup in recently.

The military government had public backing when it took power, committing to deal with the protracted safety emergency prompted by a independence uprising in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by jihadist fighters.

The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been deployed in previously to address the growing rebellion.

Both have left since the junta took over, and the current administration has hired Russian mercenaries to combat the instability.

However, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and significant areas of the north and east of the state remain not under administrative command.