Mali Closes Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Restrictions Worsens Petrol Crisis

The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a acute energy crisis resulting from a restriction on fuel imports implemented by Islamist insurgents.

Minister of Education declared on national broadcast that all academic facilities would stay shut until November 9th, clarifying that the movement of staff and students had been affected by the blockade.

He asserted that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to end the emergency so that classes could continue on 10 November.

For several weeks, Mali has been grappling with a fuel shortage, notably in the main city, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a restriction by targeting tankers on primary roads.

Mali is without coastal access, so all energy resources are transported by truck from neighboring states such as Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Extended lines have been forming around fuel outlets in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently grown silent.

The military government had earlier this month promised the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has persisted.

In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their dependents would evacuate Mali amid the deteriorating energy crisis and increasing safety issues.

It noted that the energy interruptions had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.

Mali is currently ruled by a military junta under the leadership of the military leader, who took control in a takeover in two years ago.

The junta had widespread approval when it assumed control, vowing to address the long-running security crisis triggered by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by extremist groups.

The international UN troops and French forces had been deployed in previously to address the increasing militant activity.

These forces have left since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has hired Russian mercenaries to address the violence.

However, the Islamist rebellion has continued and extensive regions of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain beyond state authority.