Mali Closes Schools and Universities as Jihadist Restrictions Intensifies Petrol Shortage

The landlocked West African country has temporarily halted educational facilities and universities countrywide due to a critical fuel scarcity caused by a restriction on energy resources enforced by Islamist insurgents.

The Education Minister stated on national broadcast that all academic facilities would remain closed until November 9th, explaining that the travel of employees and learners had been affected by the imposed limitations.

He emphasized that the administration were “working tirelessly” to resolve the emergency so that classes could resume on November 10th.

For weeks, Mali has been experiencing a fuel shortage, especially in the capital Bamako, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate imposed a restriction by targeting tankers on key routes.

Mali is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are delivered by road from bordering countries such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire.

Lengthy waits have been winding around petrol stations in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now apparently become deserted.

The ruling military council had in recent days promised citizens that it was only a passing concern, but the emergency has endured.

In the past few days, the US Embassy in the capital declared that non-critical embassy personnel and their families would leave Mali amid the intensifying fuel shortage and growing protection worries.

It noted that the petroleum supply issues had disrupted the supply of electricity and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.

The West African nation is now led by a army council led by the military leader, who took control in a military overthrow in two years ago.

The junta had public backing when it came to authority, promising to deal with the protracted safety emergency triggered by a autonomy movement in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by extremist groups.

The UN peacekeeping mission and France's military had been deployed in 2013 to combat the escalating insurgency.

Both have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the current administration has contracted Russian mercenaries to address the insecurity.

Nevertheless, the Islamist rebellion has persisted and extensive regions of the north and east of the country remain outside government control.