🔗 Share this article The West African nation Closes Schools and Higher Education Centers as Jihadist Restrictions Exacerbates Fuel Shortage Extended lines have been forming around gas stations in the past few weeks Mali has closed schools and higher learning institutions countrywide due to a critical energy crisis resulting from a embargo on fuel imports implemented by militant groups. The Education Minister stated on public media that all learning centers would remain closed until the ninth of November, noting that the transportation of employees and learners had been impacted by the imposed limitations. He stated that the administration were “working tirelessly” to resolve the crisis so that academic sessions could continue on the tenth of November. For a number of weeks, Mali has been experiencing a energy deficit, notably in the main city, after armed groups from an al-Qaeda-linked organization imposed a restriction by targeting fuel trucks on key routes. The country is without coastal access, so all fuel supplies are delivered by truck from adjacent nations such as Senegal and the neighboring nation. Long queues have been snaking around fuel outlets in Bamako in the last several days, and the city's typically busy streets have now apparently fallen quiet. The junta-led administration had in recent days reassured residents that it was only a short-term problem, but the emergency has endured. In the past few days, the American diplomatic mission in Bamako stated that non-critical embassy personnel and their dependents would leave Mali amid the intensifying petrol scarcity and growing protection worries. It said that the fuel disruptions had affected the energy availability and had the “potential to disrupt” the broader protection environment in unpredictable ways. The West African nation is currently ruled by a armed forces administration headed by General Goïta, who assumed authority in a takeover in two years ago. The military government had public backing when it assumed control, vowing to address the ongoing instability triggered by a separatist rebellion in the northern region by Tuareg communities, which was then co-opted by extremist groups. The UN peacekeeping mission and French forces had been deployed in previously to deal with the escalating insurgency. These forces have withdrawn since the military assumed power, and the ruling council has hired Russian mercenaries to combat the violence. Nevertheless, the militant uprising has persisted and large parts of the northern and eastern territories of the state remain outside government control.