The West African nation Shuts Down Schools and Higher Education Centers as Islamist Militant Restrictions Worsens Fuel Emergency

The landlocked West African country has closed educational facilities and universities across the nation due to a severe energy crisis caused by a restriction on petroleum supplies implemented by Islamist insurgents.

The Education Minister announced on public media that all academic facilities would be inactive until 9 November, explaining that the movement of employees and pupils had been affected by the restrictions.

He emphasized that the government officials were “doing everything possible” to end the emergency so that academic sessions could continue on 10 November.

For several weeks, the nation has been facing a fuel shortage, particularly in the main city, after militants from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a restriction by striking transport vehicles on major highways.

Mali is without coastal access, so all petroleum products are delivered by land routes from bordering countries such as its western neighbor and Côte d'Ivoire.

Long queues have been snaking around fuel outlets in the main city in the past few weeks, and the city's normally bustling streets have now reportedly grown silent.

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

In the past few days, the United States diplomatic office in the capital announced that non-critical embassy personnel and their relatives would leave Mali amid the deteriorating fuel shortage and increasing security concerns.

It explained that the fuel disruptions had impacted the power distribution and had the “capacity to affect” the general safety conditions in unforeseen manners.

The West African nation is now led by a armed forces administration led by General Goïta, who seized power in a takeover in 2021.

The military government had popular support when it assumed control, vowing to address the protracted safety emergency triggered by a independence uprising in the north by ethnic Tuaregs, which was then co-opted by Islamist militants.

The international UN troops and France's military had been deployed in a decade ago to address the increasing militant activity.

The international troops have left since the military assumed power, and the military government has employed Russian mercenaries to combat the violence.

Nonetheless, the jihadist insurgency has continued and extensive regions of the north and east of the country remain outside government control.