🔗 Share this article Mali Suspends Schools and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Blockade Intensifies Petrol Crisis Extended queues have been snaking around petrol stations in the last few days Mali has suspended schools and universities throughout the country due to a acute fuel scarcity triggered by a restriction on petroleum supplies imposed by jihadist fighters. The Education Minister announced on national broadcast that all learning centers would stay shut until November 9th, clarifying that the travel of personnel and learners had been affected by the blockade. He asserted that the authorities were “doing everything possible” to end the crisis so that educational activities could resume on 10 November. For weeks, the nation has been experiencing a fuel shortage, especially in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an jihadist network imposed a blockade by striking fuel trucks on primary roads. Mali is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are delivered by truck from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and the neighboring nation. Long queues have been forming around petrol stations in the main city in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now apparently become deserted. The military government had previously promised citizens that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has continued. In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would depart Mali amid the deteriorating energy crisis and growing protection worries. It said that the petroleum supply issues had impacted the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the broader protection environment in unexpected forms. Mali is now led by a military junta headed by General Goïta, who assumed authority in a military overthrow in 2021. The military government had popular support when it came to authority, vowing to tackle the ongoing instability caused by a autonomy movement in the north by the Tuareg population, which was then taken over by jihadist fighters. The United Nations stabilization force and French forces had been stationed in 2013 to address the escalating insurgency. Both have left since the military assumed power, and the military government has contracted foreign fighters to combat the violence. Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the nation remain not under administrative command.