🔗 Share this article Mali Closes Educational Institutions and Universities as Jihadist Restrictions Intensifies Petrol Crisis Prolonged queues have been forming around petrol stations in the past few weeks The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a severe petrol shortage resulting from a blockade on petroleum supplies imposed by Islamist insurgents. Minister of Education declared on public media that all academic facilities would remain closed until the ninth of November, clarifying that the transportation of staff and pupils had been disrupted by the blockade. He asserted that the authorities were “making every effort” to end the crisis so that academic sessions could restart on the tenth of November. For several weeks, the nation has been grappling with a fuel shortage, notably in the capital Bamako, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization initiated a restriction by targeting tankers on key routes. The country is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are brought in by road from neighboring states such as Senegal and the neighboring nation. Extended lines have been snaking around fuel outlets in Bamako in the past few weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently become deserted. The junta-led administration had previously promised the public that it was only a temporary issue, but the crisis has persisted. Recently, the United States diplomatic office in Bamako announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would evacuate the country amid the worsening petrol scarcity and escalating protection worries. It noted that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners. The West African nation is currently ruled by a army council headed by Gen Assimi Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in two years ago. The ruling council had widespread approval when it took power, promising to deal with the ongoing instability triggered by a independence uprising in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters. The international UN troops and European soldiers had been sent in a decade ago to address the growing rebellion. The international troops have left since the new administration came in, and the ruling council has contracted private military contractors to address the instability. However, the Islamist rebellion has continued and large parts of the north and east of the country remain beyond state authority.