Mali Shuts Down Schools and Universities as Islamist Militant Restrictions Intensifies Petrol Shortage

Mali has suspended schools and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a severe petrol shortage caused by a restriction on energy resources enforced by Islamist insurgents.

Top education official declared on national broadcast that all education institutions would stay shut until the ninth of November, explaining that the travel of employees and learners had been affected by the restrictions.

He asserted that the authorities were “making every effort” to alleviate the crisis so that classes could continue on 10 November.

For a number of weeks, Mali has been facing a petrol crisis, notably in the main city, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a blockade by striking tankers on key routes.

Mali is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are brought in by truck from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation.

Extended lines have been winding around gas pumps in the capital in the last several days, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly grown silent.

The military government had in recent days reassured citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the situation has persisted.

Last week, the United States diplomatic office in the capital announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would evacuate the country amid the worsening fuel shortage and increasing safety issues.

It said that the energy interruptions had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways.

Mali is now led by a armed forces administration headed by the military leader, who assumed authority in a coup in two years ago.

The junta had public backing when it assumed control, vowing to address the protracted safety emergency caused by a independence uprising in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters.

The international UN troops and French forces had been sent in previously to combat the growing rebellion.

The international troops have left since the new administration came in, and the military government has contracted Russian mercenaries to tackle the instability.

Nevertheless, the militant uprising has continued and significant areas of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain beyond state authority.