🔗 Share this article The West African nation Closes Educational Institutions and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Restrictions Intensifies Fuel Emergency Prolonged lines have been forming around petrol stations in recent weeks The landlocked West African country has suspended schools and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a acute petrol shortage resulting from a blockade on energy resources implemented by Islamist insurgents. The Education Minister announced on state television that all academic facilities would be inactive until the ninth of November, noting that the transportation of personnel and students had been disrupted by the blockade. He stated that the government officials were “working tirelessly” to resolve the situation so that educational activities could resume on November 10th. For several weeks, the nation has been facing a fuel shortage, notably in the main city, after militants from an al-Qaeda affiliate enforced a embargo by striking transport vehicles on primary roads. Mali is landlocked, so all fuel supplies are transported by truck from neighboring states such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire. Extended lines have been snaking around fuel outlets in Bamako in recent weeks, and the city's typically busy streets have now allegedly grown silent. The military government had in recent days assured 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 declared that secondary diplomatic employees and their relatives would depart Mali amid the deteriorating fuel shortage and growing security concerns. It noted that the energy interruptions had affected the supply of electricity and had the “ability to disturb” the broader protection environment in unforeseen manners. The West African nation is now led by a army council headed by the military leader, who seized power in a takeover in recently. The junta had public backing when it assumed control, promising to address the long-running security crisis prompted by a independence uprising in the northern region by the Tuareg population, which was then hijacked by jihadist fighters. The United Nations stabilization force and European soldiers had been deployed in a decade ago to deal with the growing rebellion. These forces have left since the new administration came in, and the military government has contracted Russian mercenaries to combat the violence. Nonetheless, the Islamist rebellion has continued and large parts of the north and east of the country remain beyond state authority.