The West African nation Shuts Down Schools and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Blockade Intensifies Petrol Emergency

Mali has suspended schools and universities throughout the country due to a severe petrol shortage resulting from a restriction on fuel imports implemented by militant groups.

Minister of Education declared on national broadcast that all academic facilities would be inactive until November 9th, noting that the travel of employees and students had been impacted by the blockade.

He asserted that the authorities were “making every effort” to alleviate the situation so that classes could restart on the tenth of November.

For several weeks, the nation has been facing a fuel shortage, notably in the main city, after insurgents from an al-Qaeda-linked organization enforced a restriction by striking tankers on primary roads.

Mali is landlocked, so all petroleum products are delivered by land routes from adjacent nations such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Long queues have been forming around gas pumps in the capital in the last several days, and the city's usually crowded streets have now allegedly become deserted.

The junta-led administration had previously promised the public that it was only a short-term problem, but the situation has endured.

Recently, the US Embassy in the capital announced that secondary diplomatic employees and their families would evacuate Mali amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and growing protection worries.

It explained that the energy interruptions had impacted the energy availability and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unpredictable ways.

Mali is now led by a military junta headed by the military leader, who seized power in a takeover in recently.

The junta had popular support when it came to authority, vowing to tackle the long-running security crisis caused by a autonomy movement in the northern territories by Tuareg communities, which was then taken over by Islamist militants.

The international UN troops and France's military had been stationed in previously to combat the increasing militant activity.

Both have left since the junta took over, and the military government has contracted foreign fighters to address the violence.

Nonetheless, the militant uprising has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern zones of the nation remain not under administrative command.